Monday, August 3, 2009

. . . consulted color wheels




This is a small 20 x 20" painting I finished last week. I love the background color, which is an unusual color for my paintings. But I was stuck. . . I didn't know where to go after I applied the black and white elements. So I actually dug out the color wheels that I have and came up with this slightly unusual color pallette. Those color wheels really work, don't they? I deepened the background with additional washes and glazes of purple.


During yesterday's open house I lugged three big boxes of books to Half Price Books. Their offer was actually more than I had expected, and they assured me that the books they didn't want would not go to a landfill somewhere, but were donated eventually. With part of the proceeds, I took Joey and Betsy to Sonic for smoothies.


I know, I know: I live such an exciting life. What a whirlwind of activity. . .

7 comments:

Jazz said...

Yummy yummy purple. I love purple.

ps pirro said...

Love this. Love mossy green and purple. And Sonic smoothies, too.

Leslie Avon Miller said...

Great colors Mary! Sounds like things are progressing for you. And still you find time to paint. What an artist you are!

Miki Willa said...

This painting is extraordinary! I have liked all your paintings very much, but this one just blows me away. I could get so lost in all the colors, shapes, contrasts, and patterns. The colors are my absolute favorites. The bits of orange with the purple just sing. If I had any money at all, I would buy this on in a heartbeat. As it is, I will just have to keep coming back to this post. Wow!

Anna said...

I love this painting--the background color is perfect. How is the house-selling process going? Any activity?
Hope Joey and Betsy had a good time at Sonic.

bob Cornelis said...

Nice composition and the colors are wonderful here - just the right balance of purple, green and orange. I resort to my color wheel often and it usually doesn't lead me astray. The trick is to know how much and where to put it, which the wheel doesn't help with!

Mary Buek said...

Good morning, Jazz. I kind of like purple too.

Ps. The smoothies were the best.

Leslie: Thanks. I guess I have hit a spurt of inspiration and I just have to go with it.

Miki: Wow is right. Thanks so much, I'm so glad you like it.

Anna: Thanks. Are you moving, too? Selling a house sucks, to say the least. J & B just like going anywhere with Nana.

Bob, so nice to see you back on your blog. I'm looking forward to your photographs.