Yes, color must be seen beautifully, that is, meaningfully, and used as a constructive agent, borrowed from nature, not copied, and used to build, used only for it's building power, lest it will not be beautiful.
- Robert Henri
Ahhh, color! This week, I start a color class with Kimberly Trowbridge at Gage Academy of Art. I get so much out of her classes. She has enriched my awareness of light temperature, encouraged a simplification of masses and planes, and deepened my understanding of painting as an interpretive language.
Here is a painting I did in her figure class last Spring. We had two models who alternated sittings over several sessions. I liked the exercise of using a primary color to draw the first pass, letting it merge with colors from the second pass, or appear in the uppermost layer. It adds an unexpected, expressive quality to the painting.
Couple, Julie Devine, 2010
