This is the first video in a series where I attempt to paint (4) 6x6 canvases for my friends at the Lafayette Art Association in Lafayette, LA: https://www.lafayetteart.org/

In this video I am utilizing Indigo again as the main color of the painting. This time however, I am adding some cooler colors and a complementary color (just for those who didn’t like me using a monochromatic color scheme). Here are the colors I used (All Golden Heavy Body Acrylics): Titanium White, Buff Titanium, Burnt Sienna, Teal, Anthraquinone Blue, Mars Balck, Minty G (which is my own custom mix). Keep in mind that what I am calling Indigo is a mix of Anthraquinone Blue and Mars Black. The black helps take the edge off the intensity and cools it just a bit to make a nice Indigo Blue.

Hello Everyone! It’s been awhile since I’ve shown up on video, or in my vlog. For those that are new subscribers, I’m David Kessler-an abstract painter and art instructor.

My last vlog entry was February of 2022, the 278th straight week of videos written and produced by me. I owe you an explanation of my absence over this nearly 2 year period. I had gotten to a point where my work was stale and it seemed I was doing the same thing in each painting, just going through the motions with no real movement forward. COVID had also come along and disrupted my travel and teaching schedule. I tried the Zoom lessons and all that, but it wasn’t the same as traveling to teach folks in person, one to one. I needed to recharge my creative spirit, and art wasn’t working for me. So I turned back to my first love, architecture.

If we study the old masters’ paintings we can see that they used a structural hierarchy that created paintings with areas of more importance and less importance. The more important areas we may think of today as a center of interest (or area of dominance or focal point or area of interest, etc.). The video shows just a few examples of some of my favorites. You can Google images of old masters’ paintings and have a look yourself.

I get asked over and over by students: “How do I know if a color is cool or warm?” So, I thought I would address that question in this video.

All colors have a warmer or cooler version. To keep things simple, the video reviews only primary colors - the major primary paint colors that all paint manufacturers make.

Thank you for the support over the last 5-1/2 years that I have been producing weekly videos. Beginning in 2022 I will not be making videos and sending emails every week. I will produce at least one video per month (like I did prior to 2016).