The Painting of "Uptown Jukin' 1"
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The Painting of "Uptown Jukin’ 1"
Sometimes I get in a painting rut. In 2020 I hardly painted at all. I was so busy trying to make a living through online workshops, I didn’t have lots of time (or motivation) to paint. Lately I have felt that everything I have been doing is the same, or starts the same, so I decided to use a different approach. Sometimes the only way to get out of a rut is to do something different, or approach it in a different way.
In this painting, I started with the centers of interest first, rather than a dark or dark middle value. This painting is acrylic on a 30x30” gallery wrapped canvas. It is an analogous color combination of Red, Red-Orange, Orange and Yellow-Orange. Here are the Golden Heavy Body Acrylic colors that I used:
Buff Titanium
Naples Yellow
Yellow Ochre
Mars Yellow
Pyrrole Orange
Cadmium Red Medium Hue
Quinacridone Magenta
Red Oxide
Cobalt Blue Hue
Neutral Gray 6
Mars Black
Titanium White
I started on the palette by mixing a few colors. I mixed some of the Cobalt Blue Hue into the Pyrrole Orange to mute it. I mixed Titanium White into most of the colors aiming for a lighter value painting. I mixed some of the colors together, but I honestly can’t remember. I wanted to do most of the mixing on the surface.
I started the painting using Cadmium Red Medium Hue right out of the jar, applying it as the center of interest color. I used a large area of color on part of the canvas and a lesser amount on the other part of the canvas. The goal was to have multiple centers of interest. I chose the red because of it’s relative brightness.
I put in some dark value on the periphery of the red and some gray. Now, most of the color for my centers of interest and dark values are in. The rest of the painting is filled in by simply randomly pulling color from the palette, keeping most colors in the light middle value range. I try to use most of the colors in two to three places around the canvas.
The big goal was to move quickly and intuitively without thinking about anything. The entire piece took just over 7 minutes to complete. Goal met. Next week, you’ll see the painting of a sister piece using the same color combination.
If you'd like to learn about abstract painting and making your own authentic work, then please join me for a painting workshop: (You can view a list of workshops HERE)
March 4, 2021 Interactive (Zoom) Mini-Workshop: Painting with David, 3 hrs. Click Here for Registration and Information.
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April 21-23, 2021 David M. Kessler Fine Art Studio, Winston-Salem, NC. This is a Studio Workshop in Abstract Painting. Click Here for Information and Registration.
April 27, 2021 Interactive (Zoom) Mini-Workshop: Bigger, faster, Fresher, Looser Abstract Painting, 6 hours. Click Here for Registration and Information
April 29, 2021 Interactive (Zoom) Mini-Workshop: Abstracting the Landscape, 6 hrs. Click Here for Registration and Information.
As always, thanks for your support!
David
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Simple Color System Colorwheel
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