A Year of Small Paintings
In my studio, as well as outside, 2022 was a year of small paintings. Throughout this time, I consciously favoured small. It began in my winter studio, then ventured out to plein-air in the Spring. So much so that over the past year, I have worked on only a couple of large canvases. My favourite blog post for the year was definitely musing about the benefits (and there are many) of small in the June/July Newsletter. So those of you looking for a creative New Year’s resolution, (that’s all of us eh?!) how about something small? – making it easy to take that first step to “just do it”.
Join me for 2023 on Instagram
For 2023 I’m going to keep the fun of small paintings going and will be posting regularly: ideas for 2023, small stories and of course photos! – connect with me, davidkearn1 on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkearn1/
Winter Courses Starting 18 January
The Winter Term is coming: downtown studio classes, weekend workshops in Orleans and a range of on-line classes too: check out all on our website: https://www.breakabrush.com/workshops/
Looking forward to seeing you!
Oskar Kokoschka’s Hands
Anne recently sent an image by the Expressionist artist Oskar Kokoschka. I don’t think there is an artist in the annals of painting who used hands so expressively. Whenever I paint hands, I’m inspired by Kokoschka,
https://www.theartstory.org/artist/kokoschka-oskar/
A question on Viridian
Andrew asked recently: “I have been working chiefly with two of each primary: with two blues (cerulean and ultramarine), two reds, and two yellows, plus the earth tones. This has been successful. However, are there any useful pigments beyond these? Somehow, I picked up a tube of Viridian, and I have occasionally found it useful. I do not know how to produce that pigment from the primaries I have.”
I work with the same limited palette as Andrew and this enables me to get the vast majority of the effects I need. By keeping things simple, I get on with actual painting without worrying too much about which tube of paint to pick up. There are always compromises and my greens will always be the result of the constituent pigments. I can mix, say, Cerulean blue and Hansa yellow to get a colour that may be very similar to Viridian but not made from the Viridian pigment (Chromium Oxide). That’s key, to make a distinction between colour – the chromatic wavelength – and pigment – the actual real-world substance: Viridian may sparkle and have attractive transparency. Our eyes pick up these subtle differences.
Wishing you the very creative best for 2023!
David & France
“Hope smiles from the threshold of the year to come, whispering, ‘It will be happier’.” Alfred Lord Tennyson