More Colour Studies

I have a large wall space that I need to fill. Rather than doing a single large piece I decided to make more of the 10" x 10" colour studies that I so enjoyed doing this past spring, as part of a Jane Davies on-line course on colour. I've been encouraged to make more as seven of the originals have sold.

The idea is to paint layer upon layer, employing subtle textures to add a richness to the surface. Dry brushing, scraping, dripping, lifting, and glazing all come into play. My parameters were:

• choose 3 colours from a palette of 6 (warm red, yellow-green, yellow-orange, warm grey, turquoise and light violet)
• use only 3 rectilinear shapes, including the background 

These limitations mean that the pieces will hang together well as a group, whether at a show or in situ. I began by making tiny mock-ups of various designs and colour combinations, not all of which made the final cut:

This time, I took a few more liberties with materials. I used mostly acrylic paint, but also some watercolour crayons, oil paint sticks and oil pastel to add scribbly texture.

mottled turquoise offset by flat matte of red

scribbled oil pastel on acrylic base,
distressed red paint under the violet

Can you see the drips of red paint?

Original yellow-orange background
overpainted with violet,
leaving interesting orange edge around red shape

By mounting the painted heavy-weight paper onto birchwood boxes and painting the edges with matte black paint, I think I achieved a nice presentation. Everything was varnished to protect and preserve the work. Here's a photo of ten of the colour studies placed on the wall:

This exercise has given me some valuable experience with handling acrylic paint, and that will stand me in good stead for a five-day acrylic workshop coming up in September.