Some Colors can be Detrimental to your Painting

Feeney Class, Cape Cod Art Association

The first session at the Cape Cod Art Association went well last week. I gave my “Take the bad colors off your palette now,” lecture without too much feedback.

Paint companies are in the business of selling paints. They don’t really care if your work is improving or stuck in a Burnt Umber rut.  They just want you to buy as many different tubes of various colors as you can.

Now me, I’m all about mixing my own colors. Not that I am a great colorist but I do recognize problem colors and students that cannot let them go.  I went over some of these colors with my new students and could feel the good  mood deflate in the studio temporarily.

For the Student-

When you are buying your supplies in the future,  holding that tube of Sap Green in your hand wondering what route to take to improving your work, right now, … the challenging, satisfying… let me try mixing my harmonizing colors myself route, or to take your tried and true method and just squeeze any old tube habit?

Don’t be a sap.  Just because it’s in an art supply shop,  that does not mean it will help you create art.

Craigville Beach

Even though I live near  Craigville Beach, I never ever go during the Summer. There are other beaches I prefer on the North side. But I do spend a lot of time in the winter here.  I like it empty and barren.  The  feel of the off -season quiet appeals .

The other day I was at Craigville mid-day in the rain.  I could see paintings in several directions. Sometimes the light is right, the weather enhancing  and the art so obvious.  Sometimes as a artist you get around to painting a scene you have been watching for years without realizing it.  You know what size to paint it.  How to lay it in, and it all comes so easy.