Tuesday 17 July 2012

Summer of color: the last week!

Watermelon ... My absolute favorite fruit on a hot summer's day .... And for the last week of the Summer of Color we may use those colors: a bright red with dark spots.

The nice thing about this challenge is that it makes you use colors or colorcombinations that you normally wouldn't consider. I tend to go back to the same colors over and over again, but now I realise that there really ARE more color combinations that I like, and will be using in the future. For instance: I have a tendency to avoid brown. But in 2 challenges we had to use dark brown, or chocolat brown. And I must admit that I like it. It gives a kind of warm glow to the other colors, and adds a touch of contrast to the bright colors I normally use.

So today I was making a kind of greenish, bright colored edge around my painted figures, and I didn't like it. So, since there's dark brown in watermelon, I decided to use that as a kind of shadow. And I like it so much better than the green edge. I will definitely be using more of this color!

This is the background I started out with, a mix of acrylics and spray inks:

It was difficult getting some contrast on there, because only very little brown was allowed. So I painted the background in different reds, and sprayed some dark brown ink on there. And then I covered the whole thing with plastic wrap. After leaving it on for about half an hour (it wasn't dry yet), I took it off and got the most beautiful patterns. I love this technique!

I saw a bird right away, although I wasn't sure I wanted to be painting over that pattern. But then I saw a face too, and decided to go with it.


And since I had a reddish page in my art journal too, I decided to make another drawing in there. Done with Inktense pencils and plain old gesso:


Well, that's the end of the Summer of Color! It was a fun challenge, and I hope next year Kristin will do it again (hint ...).

Since I have so many small paintings now, what with all the challenges I've been doing, I will focus more on painting boxes and on bigger paintings in the coming weeks. The 2 boxes I made for my customer in the Netherlands have left for their long journey yesterday. I do hope they will arrive safe and sound...

I want to thank all of you who have come and visited me over the past weeks. I so enjoyed reading your comments, and visiting your blogs. I hope we'll keep in touch, even though this challenge is finished.

I will be back in a few days with my box in progress (or maybe even finished...!)

Love to you all!

15 comments:

  1. Beautiful! I love everything about it - the composition, the colours, the background texture. Lovely work.

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  2. Am loving both of these fab pieces Denthe. Annette x

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  3. These are both amazing paintings!! You have used the colors well .

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  4. You know I adore your artwork (I am now a happy follower) - and this week's artwork for Summer of Color is no exception. I LOVE how you see a bird and faces in your backgrounds. Their green eyes are stunning :o)

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  5. It's simply WOOOOW. Beautiful work.
    lovely greet
    Marja
    (marjascretivity)

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  6. Oh wow and I am amazed by your work. Simply beautiful. You must be tired of hearing me say that but it can't be helped. :)

    Your journal page made me tear up, it reminds me of my grandson who was just taken out of state by his crappy father (ex-son in law) without my daughter's knowledge or permission. Now we have to find a way to get him back. He's only two and like your pages says 'the world is more full of weeping than you can understand'. That's what we've been doing for days. Sorry to be a bummer.

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  7. Totally loving your paintings!! :)

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  8. Beautiful image sweetie, loving the depth of the painting and perfectly matched with this weeks colour!

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  9. absolutely gorgeous! LOVE how you SEE all these images in your backgrounds! Thanks for stopping by!

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  10. I love your two pieces this week. The girl and the bird are really stunning. I love how you used dark brown around them and their green eyes.

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  11. I love using plastic wrap for texture, too. Fantastic!

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  12. I love the way you paint your eyes, the top piece is so moving. I love the words you chose for the second one as well! Beautiful work!!

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  13. Both are beautiful art works. I love how you paint the eyes of the top piece, it's a perfect expression, she looks so vivid. The second piece is amazing too, I love the words you chose.
    Have a nice weekend.
    Hugs Anja

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  14. Both pieces are gorgeous.. love the colors and her lovely bird .. the verse is so lovely on the second.. yes.. sad it's over too...
    Kath
    xx

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  15. Wow..these are amazing!! LOVE them both!!

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