Sometimes, when people talk about a "limited palette", they mean that the colors are muted. You know, subdued colors. they may have all been mixed from a sixteen-color palette, but it's still (sometimes) referred to as limited palette.
Other times, limited palette means you only have a few tube colors on the palette. A primaries palette would be a limited palette. But you could have all kinds of high chroma notes in a painting done with the primaries, right?
My definition is the latter, at least for this, and the previous post.
Now we got that cleared up, what colors did I use for this painting? White, Permanent Red, Yellow Ochre, and Ivory Black. Yes, it's another Zorn Palette painting. I did it this morning, live model, three hours. It started out well, and somewhere in the middle of the session I got in trouble.
My idea was to have a spot light on her thigh area and gradually lessen the strength of the light as we travel up the torso and throw the head completely in shadow - I wanted a mysterious feel, sort of like when they interview people on camera but hide their identities? The light on the model's head was weaker than on her lower body, but it was still well lit. So I was basically making up an alternate lighting to illustrate my idea, but I couldn't make it work convincingly enough so I scraped and wiped the made up parts.
With an hour left, I repainted the top, more or less as she was lit. I de-emphasized the contrast but it's still kinda awkward and clumsy. Perhaps I will work on it some more and see if I can make a painting out of it.
Nonetheless, I had a great time painting from a live model; Something I used to do regularly but left it behind a couple of years ago when I gave up my studio. Now that I'm teaching again, it's once again a part of my exercise routine, and I really enjoy it, and I'm having a good time painting in this, and other limited palette set ups.
Frank Ordaz also talks about the Zorn Palette in his latest post. Check out what he did with it; A great example of how it's used to depict darker skin tones. Very different from my examples, but you can see how very versatile this palette is.
I leave you with a pic of something that has nothing to do with art - We found these guys in the parking lot after our beer session.
2 comments:
Awww...I don't think I've seen a single baby that I haven't fallen in love with, no matter the genus. I really love this painting, Terry. I have always assumed a limited palette mean few hues used, though the value and intensity can be quite varied. Thanks for a mini lesson in another interpretation. Nudes never have been something I am drawn to (hah! pun not intended), but I have seen so many artists get past MY embarrassment and they are truly exquisite works of art. Your pieces are just that, one in which form and mood are the important elements. Just as how any good painting should be!
Our town is full of roaming chickens and roosters. It can get pretty noisy.
Yeah, Nudes in and of themselves aren't that interesting a subject to me. A painting needs a lot more than a depiction of the subject matter. Whether it be a narrative, psychology, mood, abstractions...It's the artist's interpretation of the subject matter that makes it interesting.
But without the understanding of the physical aspects of the figure, it's pretty difficult to get past the rendering and imbue other, intangible stuff into the picture. So we toil and study the *mere* physical for years and years...
If the process of learning itself weren't exciting, this path that is art, is totally not worth taking!
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