Dockton Studio

Wednesday, January 29, 2014

on the easel January 29, 2014

 My day in the studio started with the oil painting on the right. This is the painting that followed Color Study for Destiny, sold a couple days ago from my Daily Paintworks Gallery. If you look at my previous post on this blog, you'll see that it has changed from my original intent, probably because I shipped the color study to its new home and didn't have it for reference.

I got this far today on Destiny and decided to quit because I got lost with the color and needed a break. I like the values but the colors need more thought. I went for a dog walk in the rain then back to the studio to look for a pastel to work on so I would leave Destiny alone. I selected the painting on the left, Byway for Another Day, unframed it, and realized there were my color answers for Destiny!

The backstory on Byway for Another Day: I painted it in an Elizabeth Mowry workshop in 2011. She paused by my easel many times throughout the day when I was working on Byway but commented on it only when I asked her about yellow. 'I would choose a quiet yellow,' she advised. Good advice of course!

I love the painting but I have not loved the plein-air frame I chose for it and I now realize that all the roundy shapes in the top third need more wildness - I was more conservative 3 years ago. I'll make that change today and re-frame with an off-white mat to give it more breathing room in a simple walnut frame. Then, back to Destiny with Byway as my color study!

Later post: Here is the new and improved version of Byway. Reworked the top third and the left side, cropped to nearly square format.




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