Turpentine diaries 7/14/19

Turpentine diaries 7/14/19

In recent days I’ve spent time preparing new paintings, that is, drawing and finishing designs. However, I did spend some time actually painting. I had several sessions with my most recent painting, Lens.

Unfinished ‘Lens’ on the easel

Most objects come alive under the brush by using the complement of its primary color in the half-tones–the areas between the higher and lower values. In flesh, for example, use green or blue depending on how red/orange the flesh is.

Most artists eventually figure this out for flesh but the same applies to most objects. Blonde and brown hair, for instance, appears most true with green (such as earth green) added to the half-tones. Hair has a lot of half-tones.

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