C Campbell's Fine Art

New Facebook Fan Page Available as well

2012-02-21T14:14:00.000-05:00

Today I worked on creating a FB Fan Page link for shopping FAA prints and reproductions. I wish setting up a Facebook fan page was as easy as setting up a website on Fine Arts America. My poor right brain mentality really struggled with this project.

https://www.facebook.com/pages/C-Campbells-Fine-Art/137355792975779?sk=app_309028460694

Introducing My Fine Arts America Website

2012-02-20T11:17:00.000-05:00

I have created a website with Fine Art America specifically for those who are interested in purchasing reprints of some of my original artworks. Check it out at:

http://cecelia-campbell.artistwebsites.com/

Happy Valentines Day

2012-02-14T10:16:00.000-05:00


6" x 6" Oil Painting

Happy Valentines Day, Everybody.

Wildlife on display at Island Art

2012-02-13T12:10:00.004-05:00

I dropped by the Pawleys Island Art Gallery today to see how

business is going. Very well indeed .

Here's how my new wildlife series looks installed at :

Island Art Gallery

10744 Ocean Highway

Pawleys Island, SC 29585

843 455-0336
http://www.pawleysislandart.com/

Second in the Beach Dunes Series Competed

2012-02-12T15:58:00.000-05:00


"Candles in the Wind"

This pastel was fun to paint. I started out with large warm washes of purples and maroons to add contrast and warmth to what I knew would be a VERY GREEN painting. That and a walk on the beach this morning to study the shape of the yucca plants really helped the painting.

Beach Dune Series begun

2012-02-11T15:18:00.003-05:00

"Beach Palmettos"

Just completed the first of a new series of pastel paintings on beach dunes with sea oats.

More paintings for Charleston Artists Gallery

2012-02-09T10:16:00.000-05:00

"Avocet" 8"x8" Oil in Floating Frame

I've been working hard to complete some new painting of salt marsh birds for the Charleston Artist Guild Gallery before the wildlife show opens next month. Here are a couple of the completed series.

King fisher 8" x 8" oil in Floating Frame

Chinese New Years Painting

2012-02-09T10:06:00.001-05:00

I often decorate my home for a holiday --

This year in honor of the Chinese New Year,

I painted this little 5" x &" oil of two of my China dolls

Here it is set up with the dolls on a counter-top

More wildlife paintings completed

2011-12-04T15:57:00.002-05:00

Three Wildlife Paintings in progress

Remember this photo I posted of the Wildlife paintings I was working on last week?

Two of the three are complete.

Egret in progress

Here's a closer look at the process. A lite coat of Cadmium red light acrylic was used as a mother color over a gessoed artist panel... After the acrylic dried, I sketched in the main shapes. Then I used ultramaire blue, alizarine crimson, and Cad Yellow Dark oil paint (plus minimal Titanium White) to block in all the main shapes. After that dried, I when back and refined the values in those areas using the same paint hues. Finally, when I was happy with the background, I painted in the egret using white tinted with the colors in the background.

Finished Egret on a Post

I used the same process in working on the Redwing Blackbird.

Red Wing Blackbird in the Cat-tails

New Paintings in the works

2011-11-27T15:27:00.000-05:00


New finished paintings for wildlife series waiting to be framed.

Lest you think all I have been painting for the past two months is playful miniatures, let me assure you I have been busy. I decided to get a head start on the work I will need completed when the South Carolina Wildlife Art Exhibition opens in February. Since Nov 1, I have completed six 9" x 12" oil paintings of marsh birds.


Three Wildlife Series works in progress.

I have three more marsh bird scenes in progress.

( For those of you who are wondering... I often paint the background first, leaving the bird itself until last... So the red bird shape will become a white egret... the white bird shape a red-wing black bird (after I complete the background) and the rice gate will have a blue heron added to a post..)

And after I complete the marsh birds, I 'll try painting some mink, river otter, alligators and other SC wetland critters from photos I've collected at Huntington Beach State Park.

Crab Cake Lady to Move

2011-11-27T07:45:00.001-05:00

9" x 12" Oil by C Campbell

The Crab Cake Lady is famous for her mouth water spicey and plain crab cakes made with locally caught crustaceans. A newly erected sign outside the building announced that the CC Lady is moving out of her classic low country cottage. There goes another local landmark... See it while you can on US Coastal 17 in Murrells Inlet.

Miniature Art for the Holidays

2011-11-20T18:48:00.002-05:00

I delivered my minatures to the Charleston Artist Gallery and placed them on the tree today. They look even more festive there than they did at home in my studio. These miniatures make a great gifts

They can be purchased at the

Charleston Artist Gallery

on 160 E Bay Street Charleston SC 29413

Miniature Paintings for CAG Xmas Tree

2011-11-17T20:18:00.000-05:00


Ho Ho Ho

You may remember that last month I was busy painting 4"x4" and 3"x 5" miniatures to donate to Seacoast Artist's Guild's fund-raiser to promote art in the schools. I had a blast painting those minis.

Surfing Santa

When Charleston Artists Guild announced it was going to allow its exhibiting members to sell original miniatures off of a Xmas tree in the CAG gallery, I jumped at the opportunity.

Before I knew it I had oil painted eleven miniatures in 6"x6" and 5" x 7" format..


Atlantic Sunrise

About half of the paintings had a Christmas theme, but I also painted quite a few subjects I usually do not approach when I am working on a series. The minis include 2 seascapes and 2 flower paintings and 2 architectural architectural renditions... Thats the nice thing about doing something totally different... if frees you up to be creative and try a fresh approach.


Charleston Blues

The miniatures will go on sale on

November 20th

at the Charleston Artist Gallery

on 160 E Bay Street Charleston SC 29413

WoooWhooo more good news

2011-11-15T17:15:00.000-05:00

Just found out I am to be featured artist for the month of August at the Charlston Artists Gallery.

I'd better get cracking getting on painting lots of new low country art work.

New painting at Charlston Artist Gallery

2011-10-16T16:04:00.000-04:00

"The Crab Cake Lady's House"

I delivered this 9" x 12" plein air oil painting to Charleston Artists Gallery today to replace the painting that sold yesterday. It looks great on the wall with all my other paintings other local landmarks

"Mini art" -- little sales with big results

2011-10-06T13:08:00.001-04:00

Each year the Seacoast Artist Guild's members donate miniature artwork painted on 4" x 4" or 4" x 6" gallery wrapped canvases. They go on sale at Applewoods, a popular local restaurant donates the space by their entrance to display the artwork, and collects & processes the sales for the Guild. The money is used to support art in the local school districts, and to provide art lessons for local youths.

I painted these eight little gems for the cause. They'll be on sale from November through Christmas .

14361 Ocean Hyw, Pawleys Island SC

Now Showing at Charleston Artist Guild Gallery

2011-10-06T12:01:00.001-04:00

You may remember from an earlier post this summer that I have been accepted into the Charleston Artist Guild Gallery on East Bay Street. October 1st was the installation day.

In a lot of galleries, a new artist is often e relegated to spaces the back of gallery. Imagine my surprise when I found my work was placed on the main corridor and clearly visible from the entrance.

What a wonderful start!.

The Georgia's Bulldog Mascot was fun to paint.

2011-10-06T11:47:00.000-04:00

About a year ago I spotted a cute garden statue of the Georgia Bulldog Mascot. I took a photo for reference, but didn't get around to painting him until last month. It just seemed appropriate for the beginning of the football season. This 12" x 12" is now at Island Art in Pawleys Island.

More new paintings at Island Art Gallery

2011-10-06T11:40:00.000-04:00

Next I took some of my pastel paintings of low country clouds over to Island Art Gallery in Pawleys Island

Their white driftwood framed pastels look lovely against the white walls of the gallery.

Busy busy busy - new paintings at Seacoast Artist Gallery

2011-10-06T11:27:00.000-04:00

September through December is always a frantic time of year for the artworld. It's been virtually non-stop for me. It began with a refresh of my space at the Seacoat Artist gallery with some small acrylics paintings of sky-scapes and beaches. I had started this series a year ago, but none of them had never been exhibited before in public. It will be interesting to see how they do.

CC joining the Charlston Artist Guild Gallery

2011-08-09T00:20:00.002-04:00

I just got confirmation that starting in October I will have wall space in the Charleston Artists Gallery. I was juried in as an exhibiting member of the Charleston Artist Guild a year ago. Apparently that put my name on the wait list for an opening in the gallery. It came as a complete surprise to me when they called to ask me if I wanted space. Did I? Duh ! Of course I want it.
Its a primo location right in the heart of the art district in the historic district. It exhibits top notch local artists. You can visit the gallery at:
160 East Bay Street
in Charleston, SC
I am overjoyed

Seafarer Series installed at Island Art Gallery

2011-07-02T18:26:00.000-04:00

A whole new set of my paintings were installed at the Island Art Gallery. All but one of them were clustered together to form a grouping based around a "seafarer" theme.

The remaining painting was placed on an easel just inside the entrance so it could be seen immediately when one entered the gallery

The majority of the paintings are about boats... fishing boats, sailboats, oyster boats, row boats.. etc. but had no trouble slipping in a bit of humor such as a boat full of pelicans

or throwing in a bit of seafaring infrastructure such as the North Island Lighthouse or the Pawley's Island Yacht Club.

Island Artist Gallery Reception 5_21_11

2011-05-22T08:16:00.001-04:00

CC by her art ( on my right)

Island Artist Gallery held a reception for all its artist on Saturday evening.

We had a great turnout of both guests and artists.

Great turnout!

The camaraderie between artists was great.

It was fun to talk about our art and explain how we work and what inspires us.

Its also a great place to learn the latest buzz.

Have you heard.....

And of course we had to check out the competition.

I wonder how the artist did that...

Where are all the guys you ask

Most were hanging out by the food and beverage tables, of course.

BJ accompanied me to the reception

The Thunderhead

2011-04-28T14:21:00.000-04:00

With all the storms hitting the South, there has been a lot of dramatic cloud formations in the sky over the marsh....I just finished this pastel painting of a thunderhead I saw yesterday.

Oh by the way, so far, dramatic cloud formations are about the only action we have seen from those storm fronts.

New pastel painting of Jeckell Island Marsh

2011-04-22T18:30:00.001-04:00

11"x14" pastel of Jeckell Island Marsh.. The photo color is more saturated than the actual painting.

Last November I visited Jeckell Island. I was very impressed with all the beautiful colors in the marsh.

Reference photo used to create the painting.

The pastel work area was set up so I could see both a value and a colored rendition of the reference.

I printed out the reference photo in color black and white to give me a understanding of the values in the scene. I also displayed the photo on a monitor next to my easel. , then made a little test sheet of the colors/values I wanted to use. Using my newly sorted values made painting the scene a snap.

Doing my homework

2011-04-22T18:05:00.000-04:00

My recent pastel workshop reinforced the importance of knowing the value range ot the stick of pastel I am working with. So I set myself the task of grouping my collection of pastels by colors, and temperature, then sorting them again by value.

A photo of some mid tone sienna color chips against the gray scale.

It's easy to do with the dark and light ends of the spectrum, but mid values get a little trick. I wound up making a color chip of each pastel stick, then visually ranking the color chips, then photographing the chips against a set of known value gray scale sheets.

I used photoshop to remove the color saturation so I could view it in gray tones

A week later I have a well sorted set of 700 pastel sticks arranged and labeled by brand, #, color, and value. And I have a set of color chips with the same information just in case I loose the label and need to figure out where a stick of color belongs.

This is only a portion of my set.

Greg Barnes Workshop

2011-04-22T17:11:00.001-04:00

I recently attended a three day Greg Barnes pastel workshop which was held at the Island Art Gallery on Pawleys Island. The workshop opened as usual with introductions and a verbal review of the equipment that would be used. After which Greg gave us brief demonstration of his pastel painting technique.

The Demonstration on the first day was of painting from a reference photo. Greg chose a traditional marsh scene from the photos he had brought with him, and proceeded to sketch the scene on his pastel paper with vine charcoal

Then he blocked in the dark tones often smudging the areas to blur and blend the tones.

Next he put in the mid tones followed by the lighter shades leaving these more distinct, especially near the focal point.

Below you can compare the painting with the reference photo. Obviously Greg is not into slavishly copying the original photo.

Greg then added in the highlights , intense tones , and details to finish the piece in less than two hours..

Day two was a lesson in plein air painting. Actually all three days should have included some plein air work, but the weather didn't cooperate. The morning of the second day was the only time it didn't pour.

The subject of the painting was the Island Deli across the parking lot from the Gallery. The bright red roof was eye catching in the morning sun against the stately old oak tree.

Greg set up his easel in the parking lot outside the gallery and proceeded to sketch the scene in vine charcoal.

Then Greg blocked in his colors. Again he started with the dark tones of the oak, but quickly threw in some of the mid value red so as to have something to judge the other mid tones against.

This is a photo of the painting when Greg ended the demonstration an hour and a half later.

On day three, it poured, so we were again stuck inside. Greg decided to show us how to paint with a limited number of colors

using a background toned with watercolor .

As promised, Greg pulled it off beautifully. The trick, it seems, is in knowing your values well enough to pick the right set of limited colors.

Each afternoon the class worked on their own paintings, while Greg coached us.

Every one's style was different. From the semi abstract and dreamy painting above,

to the dark and moody one above.

There were some highly realistic renditions,

and even an attempt to paint the same scene as Greg's original demo.(Below)

Clearly personal style matters. Both paintings were beautifully rendered, but each was unique.

Brookgreen Waterlilies I

2011-02-15T15:30:00.001-05:00

Spring is near and I am dreaming of flowers and warm days.


Original oil painting : " Brookgreens Waterlilies I"

I took a stroll through Brookgreen Gardens last week. Not much is in bloom yet, but the walk did inspire me to go back and review some of the photos I took there last Spring and summer. The photos I captured of the waterlilies in the Alligator Fountain brought back sweet memories of warm sunny days. I used the photo below as the basis for the painting above.


My original reference photo of the waterlilies in Brookgreen's Alligator Fountain

Happy Valentine's Day, Everybody!

2011-02-14T09:33:00.000-05:00

Bruce gave me this cute little stuffed teddy bear for V-Day a few years ago. This year, I decided to add an oil painting of him to my holiday series. " It's called "Take my Heart".

Lots and Lots of new Spring Paintings

2011-02-09T11:19:00.000-05:00


My wall at Island Art Gallery

I will post some close ups when they are dry enough to handle.

Most of the paintings I have at Island were painted in autumn or winter with seasonal color to match. Actually most of my paintings are painted in very warm tones or very cool grays, as I prefer those ends of the palette. But who wants to purchase a painting of fall or winter foliage, when all around them out of doors azaleas and camellias and dogwood are exploding into glorious shades of pinks and purples? This past month I decided it is time to drag out my photos of Brookgreen Gardens taken last Spring and start some new paintings.

Tulips,iceland poppies, ranunculus, wisteria, azalea have all been blooming on my canvases. Guess I can paint in Spring colors if I put my mind to it.

Lirchfield Tree Allee and Plantation House

2010-10-12T12:56:00.000-04:00

The Teeters came by to pick up their new painting of the Litchfield Tree Allee and Plantation House. They were thrilled to have such a lovely reminder of their honeymoon and wedding site.

Just Art Show at Prevost Gallery

2010-10-12T11:08:00.000-04:00

Top three Award Winners

The "Just Art Show" at Prevost Gallery in the Rice Museum, Georgetown, SC is a small but classy affair. Thirty five quality paintings are hung . Best in show, first second, third, and honorable mention awards are given.

This year the judge seemed to prefer abstract work ( four out of the five awards went to more abstract pieces) But as always spread the awards over different media: oil, watercolor, acrylic, and textile. The watercolor close-up of peaches below garnered honorable mention.


Small closeup of peaches garnered honorable mention

My work was the small plein air of the Georgetown steel mill on the upper right

My work, while too small and traditional for an award, was hung towards the entrance which is a good sign that the museum liked the piece and thought that the public would as well.

26 Annual People's Choice Art Show

2010-10-12T10:57:00.000-04:00

CC Beside her painting ( upper one)

CAG Show was held in Lobby of the First Federal Building

You may remember that last month I was thrilled to be promoted to an Exhibiting Member status by the Charleston Art Guild last month. One of the advantages of this status is that I am now eligible to apply for entry into the many shows they hold in downtown Charleston. The first one I entered was the prestigious People's Choice Award sponsored by First Federal Bank. This show has been presented annually for 26 years and is know for it's high quality art. Out of 350 exhibiting members, 125 pieces were shown. and mine was one of them. No my friends, I did not win any awards, but I am very proud just to be hanging my work hanging in this show.

I'm now officially an Exhibiting Member of the Charlston Artist Guild

2010-09-16T11:31:00.000-04:00

Hurrah! I am soooo happy. I have been officially upgraded to an Exhibiting member of the Charleston Artist Guild

It's been a long week /month. I belong to four different art guilds. Beicoming a member of the guilds is easy... Just pay your dues, But becoming accepted as an exhibiting artist in each of them, and putting things into each of their shows, requires an effort over and beyond what the wallet will buy. The most difficult for me has been the Charleston Artists Guild.   Not only do members have to pay their dues, be active in the organization, and attend the meetings, but they have to be accepted in through a rigorous jurying process which only occurs twice a year.

So???? you say...

The catch is that all of the above takes place in Charleston which is a 75 mile drive ( one way.) So this past week I put 150 miles on my car hauling three paintings down to the guilds gallery on a Sunday morning. I had to drop three, original, framed paintings off between 9 and 9:30 am. Then while the paintings were being judged on composition, brushwork, consitency of style, theme etc, I had to wait around for four hours in the heat to pick the paintings up again.

Two days later I make another 150 mile trip to Charleston to attend the Guild's, first membership meeting of the year.

Then , after two days of nail biting wondering whether I would be accepted.....Hurray! The acceptance letter just arrived.   I am so happy.

"So why all the bother?", you ask.

Answer:
(1) Exposure: The Guild's Gallery is right on the main tourist drag in the heart of the arts and historical district. In addition they sponsor and participate in manyhighly visible art shows all around the city.
(2) Prestige: Because they are picky about who can be an exhibitor, they have a reputation for high quality work, so just saying you are an exhibiting memebr improves my resume.
(3) Personal Growth: They sponsor all sorts of lectures and workshops with well known instructors, and just there is much to be learned just hanging out with other high califber artists.
And (4) $$$ is always a consideration. Just look at the prizes for an upcoming exhibition being help next month...

Awards:
People’s Choice (determined by public voting) - $500
Purchase Award - $1,800
Best in Show - $900
First Place - $400
Second Place    - $300
Third Place - $200
Honorable Mention (4 awards) - $50

Winning one of those ought to pay for the gas to Charleston and back.

Brushstrokes Exhibit at Prevost Gallery a Big Success

2010-09-03T12:11:00.000-04:00

The Brushstrokes Water-media Exhibit at the Prevost Gallery was a huge success.
Both the museum gallery and the members of the Georgetown Water Color Society had sent out invitations . We had a huge turn-out and the gallery was packed. ( Below)

Unlike a art competition where the shown work is an judged and prizes are awarded to the winning artists, this was an exhibition.Tickets for door prizes were handed out to the attending artists and guests. The Georgetown Water- media Society Janice Cowan drew the winning tickets for the door prizes of gift certificates for dinner for two at local restaurants (below).

That doesn't mean there were not any requirements to get into the show:

Each member was allowed to only one entry
The quality had to be sufficent to gain approval of the Prevost gallery director.
The work had to be less than 30" in any dimension including the frame ( There's not a lot of wall space in the gallery).
The work had to have been painted in the last year.
The work could not have been shown before within Georgetown County.
The work had to be for sale, and
The price had to be commensurate with the quality of the piece.
The work had to be watermedia.... This was the hardest requirement for me to as I am primarily a oil painter.

I entered a really vibrant acrylic painting of a egret on the marsh for which I received a lot of positive feedback

New Paintings at Island Art

2010-09-02T12:45:00.000-04:00

I have several new paintings on display at Island Art .

New Paintings on my Website

2010-08-25T23:08:00.000-04:00

I finally got around to posting the past two months worth of new paintings on my website. There are new oils paintings in the "Local Landmarks" series, and in the "State Parks" series. And you can check out some of the new work I have been doing with Golden's Open Acrylics in the "Nocturnes" and "This Side of Paradise" Series. Enjoy.

BIG NEWS! You can see my work at Island Art Gallery

2010-07-08T13:01:00.000-04:00

After viewing eight of my paintings, the owners of Island Art Gallery on Pawleys Island have agreed to represent my work. I am delighted. The Gallery is located right next to the major tourist attraction of the Hammock Shops on Highway 17. It has good visibility from the highway , lots of foot traffic, and does a steady business..

I promptly stripped my living room walls of the Pawley's Island Series and took them over to the Gallery . They gave me a great wall which is well lit both by Northern facing Windows and gallery lighting. My paintings will be able to be seen from almost every place in the gallery except the classroom.. My only concern right now is being able to paint enough paintings to be able to keep the walls filled and to be able to rotate the work on a regular basis.

While the owners do not demand that their artists offer only low country subject matter, many of the paintings do focus on that theme, so my work will fit well with the tone of the gallery. The other artists, with whom I will share the gallery, are highly skilled and offer very professional looking work. I am pleased to be in such good company.

You can find out more about the gallery by clicking on the title to this post.

C Campbells Fine Art Open Studio Reception

2010-05-27T10:21:00.000-04:00

I ( Cece) belong to a fair number of social organizations: a book club, a gardening group, four local artist guilds, dine around, not to mention the country club, etc. I am constantly being asked for an invitation to view my paintings. I'd love to invite each and every one of them over for dinner. It would be fun, and great word of mouth publicity, but that much entertaining would unquestionably interfere with my painting schedule. Such a dilemma! What to do? What to do?

Then I remembered the popularity of Open Studio Receptions in California to show off one's work. The event is a cross between a social open house, and a art gallery solo exhibit reception. The focus is on the art, and how it is created, without the hard sales pitch.

I sent out 60 invitations in April for a May 23rd 3 - 6 pm Open Studio Reception. This first set of invitations went to people who had expressed an interest in seeing my work. I also mentioned the event at each of my social organizations, and asked anyone who would like to receive an invitation to put their contact information on a list. From this , I followed through with another 15 invites. Frankly, at this point I was getting a little nervous, as there is no street parking where I live (my neighbors came to the rescue and offered their driveways for the event).

I'm not likely to tackle an event that large in my home very often, so I decided to go all out. The paintings were clustered into themes ( e.g. Local Landmark Series, Pawley's Plantation Series, etc.) Below Pawleys Plantation Series and one of State Park Series.

My husband, Bruce helped me hang as many of the paintings from each series as the space on the wall would allow.

Above: Graphics and Abstract Art
Below: Part of the Local Landmark Series

Power point presentations were run in a loop on two televisions to visually convey things that the visitors might want to know (e.g. On one TV I had a presentation showing a photograph of each painting followed by a photograph of the area each represented. )

In the Carolina room, all of the California Plein Air Series were on display, and Plein air oil painting equipment was set up for guests to inspect.

In the Art Studio Miniature Paintings were on display, and each of the different work areas were set up with the equipment I would use and examples of the results.

Above: Water media work area and paintings.
Below Oil Painting Work area

Above: Still Life set up with miniature still life example
Below: Art Photo stand with illustrated directions

Above: Composition Sketch White Board

Above: Desk and business work area
Below Mobile Media cart

Well you know what they say about the best laid plans. The skies had been clear and beautiful the entire week before the reception. Sunday morning we awoke to dark skies, and warnings flashing the the TV that people should stay home due to the possibility of tornadoes, hail and wind. By the time the Open Studio Reception was to begin there was a torrential downpour coming down. Needless to say we did not get a huge turnout, but given the circumstances, more people came than I would have expected in the storm.

We all had a good time, and all I gave lots of tours. All our guests were very enthusiastic about my work, and took a lot of business cards to spread the word.. And the good news is that I now have all the materials (right down to the Parking signs with my Business logos) ready should I choose to have an Open Studio event of any size.

Plein air painting with Georgetown Watercolor Society

2010-05-06T09:13:00.000-04:00

The activity for the monthly meeting of the Georgetown Water-media Society was plein air painting at Dunn Acres. Out hostess, Pam Dunn, and her husband Max opened their lovely restored rice plantation manor (below) and all of its gardens for us to paint in.

The manor sits on bank of the Black River with beautiful views in each direction.
( Above: looking east) ( Below: looking west)

The front of the manor faces a series of aquatic gardens that Max has constructed out of what was once an alligator infested jungle of swampland. Max told me that when they bought the property, the grounds were so overgrown that it took a bulldozer to reach the manor house. He has turned it into a series of aquatic gardens that any public arboretum would be proud to own. (I my eyes, it was more beautiful than most public gardens).

From the manor house, well laid out paths and bridges lead off to the cypress ponds which right now are lined with several colors of blooming iris. At other times of the year, Azalea, and roses bring welcome color and contrast to the dominate green.

In addition to the cypress gardens, there are several beautiful waterlily and lotus ponds.

There were so many beautiful spots it was hard to know what to paint.I finally focused upon a lovely little statue of a little girl sitting on a cypress stump.
You'll be able to see the two finished paintings on my website as soon as the paint dries enough for me to photograph them. ( See also follow on posts about Plein air pain - in )

Creating Harmony with a Mother Color - March 20th

2010-03-21T16:22:00.000-04:00

A mother color is a color which is used in every mixed color in a particular painting. You can select whatever color you wish as a mother color. It can be a neutral gray or brown mixed from the leftover colors on your palette, or it can be a straight-from-the-tube color. The logic behind doing this is that it harmonizes all the colors in an individual painting, creating a unity in the color and composition.

The mother color can either be used as the starting point for the colors you create by (a) mixing another color into some of your mother color,or (b) by mixing a little of your mother color into every color, or (c) by under toning the ground with a single color. And finally you can use a mother color to harmonize a painting by finishing the painting by glazing over tall the other colors with a single transparent mother color. I've tried all of these methods but my favorite methods with oils are (b) and (c).

When I am painting a scene that is dominated by blues and greens I often paint tone the entire canvas first with a medium shade warm hue like cadmium red light or cadmium orange. I try to choose a shade that is a natural complement to a hue right in the middle of the range of blues and greens I will be using. The warm hue will show through in areas where there is no paint adding sparkle, and it will warm other cool transparent colors like ultra marine blue.

When I am painting scenes that require an overall warm palette, I often use a blue hue as my mother color. Blue by its nature ( even a warm blue) is cooler than most of of the hues I uses in my paintings, so blue adds a nice touch of contrast.

Which blue you ask? My four main choices are: Cerulean, Cobalt, Phithalo, and Ultra Marine Blue. The one I use depends upon the painting. I let the actual scene tell me which one to choose.

A mother color is that it can be used as a dominant color (or color theme) within a painting, or it can be used less prominently. One problem with using a mother color too strongly is that the colors are too similar (in tone and hue).