I love color. And technology. I mean, really, I'm a simple, home-body type girl at heart and most of the time, technology and the 'digital age' don't make my Raindrops on Roses/ Whiskers on Kittens short list. But when it comes to color... allow me to explain:
Most of my artwork is done with ink and watercolor in an illustrative style; which means I (usually) draw the forms and shapes first and then color them afterward- either with watercolor paints or cut paper collage or some combination of the two. I've found that when I get to the point of choosing a color palette for a piece, it's probably the hardest part of the process- for me, at least. I can sometimes stare at a piece for hours and hours over the course of several days before I decide what color the eyes or the flower or the turtle or whatever should be. And the reason, I think, that color stops me in my tracks is the same reason that I love it: the possibilities of color combinations and the different kinds of beauty they can create are...endless. Ultimately, the choice I make for, say, this Study of a Mermaid
is a choice that I love but certainly not the only choice that would work, nor the only option I considered. Which brings me to why I love this modern age of technology, when, with a little know-how and a little time, my Sanford NoBlot Blue can become...
...a phosphorescent lichen green, or...
...wild rose pink...
...or a golden sepia, or any other color I want it to be.
Because mermaids aren't only blue (just so you know). And color is infinite possibility.
Most of my artwork is done with ink and watercolor in an illustrative style; which means I (usually) draw the forms and shapes first and then color them afterward- either with watercolor paints or cut paper collage or some combination of the two. I've found that when I get to the point of choosing a color palette for a piece, it's probably the hardest part of the process- for me, at least. I can sometimes stare at a piece for hours and hours over the course of several days before I decide what color the eyes or the flower or the turtle or whatever should be. And the reason, I think, that color stops me in my tracks is the same reason that I love it: the possibilities of color combinations and the different kinds of beauty they can create are...endless. Ultimately, the choice I make for, say, this Study of a Mermaid
is a choice that I love but certainly not the only choice that would work, nor the only option I considered. Which brings me to why I love this modern age of technology, when, with a little know-how and a little time, my Sanford NoBlot Blue can become...
...a phosphorescent lichen green, or...
...wild rose pink...
...or a golden sepia, or any other color I want it to be.
Because mermaids aren't only blue (just so you know). And color is infinite possibility.
I agonize over color too. It is so vital.
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