June 28, 2011

Color: Study of a Mermaid

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.



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