Color Recipies

 Before Covid, I hosted a painting group once a month in my dining room. Last Saturday we had a mini reunion, and one of them asked me what I do if I just don't feel like painting. I told her, "When I was a child, I couldn't leave the dinner table until I had eaten everything on my plate. I use that memory in the studio. If I don't feel like painting, I put on some good music and fill my pallette with paint. I can't leave until all the paint is used up. After a few minutes, I am back in the zone."

They asked me about the colors I mix. I have some favorite recipies, using Golden's Acrylics.

The first mixture on my pallette is 5 parts Zinc White to one part Titan Buff. This creates a warm mixable white.

Pink is very central to my painting (another hold-over from childhood). I use it as a base coat and also mix it for flesh tones and skies. I use 5 parts Zinc white, one part Titan Buff, two parts Naphthol Red Medium, and one part Quinacridone/Nickel Azo Gold.

Mix this pink with an equal amount of Cerlean Blue, and it makes a warm sky color. Lighten it with the white mixture.

Golden's Green Gold is a wonderful glaze. Mix it with Dioxazine Purple and it makes a dark, dark brown. Add some more green and some of my soft white mixture to make softer earth tones.

                                 

Lately I've been having fun with grays. Mix one part Permanent Green to one part Light Violet and lighten it up with the white mixture to the darkness you want.

Golden's Quinacridone/Nickel Azo Gold is another wonderful glaze. Add it to the white mixture for beautiful honey tones.

If you have favorite colors or mixtures, let me know!

At Zoe's Cabin

 I am constantly on the prowl for new imagry, so I was very excited when my friend, Zoe, agreed to a painting trade for a week at her family's cabin. Adding to the sweetness is that the cabin is a couple miles from a school where I taught first grade a lifetime ago. I spent the week hiking through oaks and painting what I saw.

If you have a vacation home and are interested in a trade, let me know!

Lighthouse Inspiration

As an artist, I'm always looking for new imagry. One wayto get fresh inspiration is through travel. In February I stayed in the Assistant Lighthouse Keeper's Cottage at Point Cabrillo. It was magical. We could watch whale spouts from the dining room table, and at night the beams from the lighthouse would sweep past our windows. 

I love lighthouses but am cautious to avoid cliches. I hope in these paintings I've been able to embrace the metaphor without easy answers or platitudes.

I am excited to be entering a new stage of life in which I have the flexibity to explore places for new ideas.