- Jan 7

Final Painting Process: Colour Theory Identified

I always think that this colour palette has chosen me and from afar I can see how this happened.

My source imagery is all black and white photos that date back to the early 1900s. At the time of choosing, I hadn't the slightest idea how it would marry with the plywood and the black wash of acrylic paint I used to build the composition with.

I cheated a bit and used Adobe Colour to assist me, my colour theory was identified in combinations that consisted of yellows, blues and browns. I knew I wanted to work with a limited colour palette to start with and once I started to apply them to my board, I noticed the vintage-esk feeling of these images starting to emerge; I must admit, I sat back and watched that all fall into place, it was all intuitional.

Before getting stuck into our painting, my teacher advised us to paint in transparent layers as the story can be easily lost when applying too much paint at once. So naturally eager to experiment, I've been painting this way and I agree with him. I've been noticing that in those areas I apply too much paint, I'll naturally strip back. The information behind the colour also matters so I've been adding a lot more medium to oil paint ratio.

As I've decided to tackle two boards, I've noticed the second one, which I decided to take on a couple of days later, is feeling a bit too rushed and I am not flowing with it as much... yet. It feels restricting in a sense and I'm yet to figure out why. Maybe the composition? Maybe the colour placement? I'm not sure. That will be figured out within the next couple of weeks.

Before I finish this post... the reason I decided to tackle two was because my teacher told me that I had too much to say and that it would be a shame to cram it all into one plywood board. If I look at my chosen manipulated image for the first composition, I know I feel a slight void, so the second will make up for that.

I'm keen to see how this unfolds!