Sometimes colour blooms in the most amazing places. “Rapunzel” is a case in point. Because we were seated inside and the December sun was setting, at first I registered nothing but the stunning coif. Only later did I find the exquisite shadows on her neck and face. This is where the glaze oil method shines. Those multi-coloured skin tones emerged as a natural outcome of the transparent primaries in the underpainting and needed no further development. And what began as a painting of great hair became an exploration of the fabulous warm/cool spectrum of shadowed skin.
Often there is even less light to work with. That can work too as in “Ethereal.” Leslie’s pale skin and hair glow, almost encircling the warm siennas of her precious Odoardi. In the same way Rachel and her cello become one, signalling from the darkness as lines and pools of reflected light. “Pensive” too relies on few areas of bright light — the side of Jon’s nose, the edge of his lips, the crease of his smile.
As viewers, our imaginations supply what is missing, like a pilot landing at midnight.
Often there is even less light to work with. That can work too as in “Ethereal.” Leslie’s pale skin and hair glow, almost encircling the warm siennas of her precious Odoardi. In the same way Rachel and her cello become one, signalling from the darkness as lines and pools of reflected light. “Pensive” too relies on few areas of bright light — the side of Jon’s nose, the edge of his lips, the crease of his smile.
As viewers, our imaginations supply what is missing, like a pilot landing at midnight.
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