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Dear Art Friends,
This is an introduction to my art blog. I have wanted to do this for a long time because between commissions and large gallery paintings I do little oil sketches of ideas for future paintings or just small things of beauty that strike me at odd moments. Because I paint every day, after a while, these little canvases add up. So I thought I would share them with you. I will be sending them out about every week or two. If you enjoy them, please forward them to friends on your email list. If you do not want to be bothered, no problem just cancel the blog.
So, please consider joining my weekly newsletter (see link below).
Thanks, Nancy Paris Pruden
Archive for August 2011
8/31/2011 | By Nancy Paris Pruden | Comment on this
Red Geraniums
Tuesday, August 30th, 2011
Demo of Geraniums
I thought it might be fun to give the mountains a rest and show a demo I did a while ago on how how to paint flowers. This pot of geraniums was sitting outside on a wall and I was looking up at it.
First you just paint a thin wash in the shadow red color of the overall shape and placement of the blooms. Next do the same thing for the leaves. Then pick out the dark accents in the blooms and the leaves. Then add the background making some areas darker than others for interest. Finally add the lights with THICK paint because lights are where you want the viewer to look. Last deal with your edges; in other words, take a dry brush and combine some of the flowers and leaves with the background. Then SQUINT and see if you have hit the values correctly. If not you can always scrape and start again….
Vail Canyon
Tuesday, August 23rd, 2011
Purple Mountains Majesty
What is it about really HUGE mountains that makes the heart swell with pride for this beautiful country of ours? I feel so blessed to have the time to really reflect on the magnitude of the gifts God has given us in the USA. After a month painting in the West, it has also become very apparent the responsibility that we all have to try to preserve our environment where ever we live.
I painted this painting with a limited pallet of Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Yellow Light and Cadmium Red Light, plus Flake White. I have found that you can mix all the colors you want with these 3 colors and maintain color harmony in the process. Since the dominate color in the mountains was purple that time of day, I emphasized the yellow foreground to stress a complimentary color scheme.
Yellow Aspens
Tuesday, August 16th, 2011
Quiller Color Wheel
While visiting my cousins last week in Vail I met the most delightful couple; Marta and Steve Quiller. Steve is quite a renowned artist and colorist and he developed the Quiller Color Wheel. This artist’s tool is different because it gives you the names and brands of tube colors to help you mix the perfect color every time. Marta was gracious enough to send me one of these color wheels and I will incorporate this tool in my teaching this Fall.
The painting for this week of Yellow aspens was painted in the late afternoon on my cousins’ deck. The warm sun shining through the trees gave the leaves a yellow hue which I pushed to contrast with the cool mountains behind. The line of dark trees also helped to differentiate between what is near and what is far.
Storm Coming…Vail
Tuesday, August 9th, 2011
Mountains; Vail, Colorado
The most magnificent country you will ever see is the 6 hour drive between Santa Fe and Vail, Colorado! However, I couldn’t dally… had to get there by nightfall. By Monday we were up the gondola painting the mountains surrounding Vail and what a sight it was! This is one of 3 paintings I did that day wearing a jacket because it was so cool…in August! Hard for a Texan to imagine.
Ghost Ranch, NM
Tuesday, August 2nd, 2011
Red Rocks of Abiquiu
This is a close-up of an unusual rock formation,which is shaped like a bowl near Abiquiu, New Mexico. Georgia O’Keefe lived and painted in this area, and I took a group of painters here last week. We also painted in Santa Fe, and Taos. The beauty of the New Mexico landscape is truly amazing so I plan on arranging for another workshop in New Mexico next summer. If you are interested, let me know!
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