Acrylic Paint on 50cm x 60 cm (~19.5in x 23.5in) wooden panel. Tallinn, Estonia. 10.2020.
I am catching up to myself with my blog posts. My first post, 3 months ago, was highlighting paintings that I did 2-3 years ago. Now after 1 post per week, we are here at the painting I completed in October 2020. Seems like I will need to pick up the pace for next year to keep this blog moving! 😅
Clouded Luminescence is actually a study of two different things I wanted to work on to improve my skills:
Clouds
Complimentary colors
As far as clouds go, I do not paint them nearly enough. Especially as I claim to be a landscape artist. Clouds are everywhere, so its about time to step my game up. That is one of the reasons why I put them front and center in this painting. Normally clouds are a background element in paintings, but not here! I can always use this as a reference for future paintings since the clouds are the center piece.
For the complementary colors, I chose Blue and Orange. For those of you who don't know, complementary colors are those that are exact opposites on the color wheel. (Red/Green, Blue/Orange, Violet/Yellow). Typically these colors are used in contrast, and if done well you can make certain colors appear more vivid by using complementary colors to offset them. It can be very hard to find harmony between the complimentary colors. You are more likely to see colors paired with those near it on the color wheel: Yellow>Green>Blue, or Orange>Red>Violet as examples. That is a much easier way to express feeling, temperature, and harmony. My goal here was to use Blue and Orange to find harmony. I am no sure if I did, but I do believe it made the orange way more vivid 😉
One last point I want to touch on in this painting is the bottom of the painting. I used a lot of water in my paints to finish it off. I wanted to give it a rainy/blurry look. The sun peeks over the clouds showing a clear blue sky, while below the clouds it is way more unclear. Does it give you a feeling of rising above the clouds into luminescence?
Clouded Luminescence - now this is a painting with some history! I've had this wooden panel for a couple of years now, and for a long time it sat in the corner. The top layer is a brand new painting, but it is hiding something underneath. The original painting on this is really different, and one that I have mixed feelings about. I included it at the bottom in case you want to take a closer look!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays everyone, thank you so much for reading!! ❤
☮♥RSM.
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