Next week the art league is exhibiting in the St Michaels Library gallery. The theme of this exhibit is "Black & White with a Touch of Color." My challenge to myself several years ago was to enter a painting in every exhibit that the art league sponsors. So, I have been thinking about what I wanted to paint - had lots of ideas, but just hadn't had a chance to do anything . . .time is running out. Oh my, I do need a deadline to get anything done these days.
I looked through lots of old photos and came up with a few things to try. My thinking was that this really is a value (black, shades of gray and white) study with a spot of color. I printed out several color photos as B&W studies. Interestingly, when they are printed in black & white only, you can really see the gray scale.
I chose this one first. I love painting the grandchildren, so knew that one of paintings had to be that subject. This is Leighton (now almost 13) at age 2 or 3. She had curly blond hair and her mother always put wonderful big bows on the girls when they were little. What I discovered in painting this is that it is VERY HARD for me to do this in just black, grays and white! I was dying to put in that blond hair and wonderful skin color and the color of that big bow!
Sorry about this photo - I do not know why this has such a yellowish cast to it - it really is a black, white & gray pastel painting.
We can enter two paintings . . .so I then repainted a watercolor that I had done some time ago. I had always loved the way it turned out then. If you are interested, you can find the original painting posted July 29 2011. And, again I had a tough time NOT using color. This exhibit is quite a challenge for me!
Voila - a pumpkin and a peach! The exhibit will be hanging for the month of May. Drop by and take a look if you are in the area!
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