Sunday, May 4, 2014

Red White Green Oil Paintings


Dear Art-Loving Friend,

    One of the things I wanted to learn is how to paint a brilliant red and all of the tones involved in order to make a red object look three-dimensional. Painters know that when one adds white to a pigment, the colors lightens and becomes bluer or colder. So, how does one lighten red and still have it remain red and rich?

    Another skill to learn is that one must depict a white porcelain object using much darker tones than expected. The whitest white possible in paint is left for the highlight. And also in this project, a green is added as a complimentary color. Adding to those ideas, in the first one that I painted, I wanted the subject in light to be in the background of the work, letting the foreground go dark. This is a bit opposite from the Tenebrist project "Giuseppe's Tools" that I painted, in which light emerges from dark, advancing towards the viewer.

    I hope you enjoy these two still life paintings. "Red, White, and Green" is 70 x 50 cm [oil on wood], while "Olives and Oil" is 24 x 45 cm [oil on canvas]. Both are available… Just respond to this e-mail or contact me as you wish, if interested.

Happy birthday, Rudy!  34 already!

oil painting on wood panel with red cloth, white porcelain, and greenery
Above:  "Red, White, and Green" oil painting on wooden panel [with GessoVero by Kelly Borsheim]
oil painting of red cloth and white porcelain vase, with bowl of olives art
"Olives and Oil" an oil painting on canvas featuring a red cloth, white porcelain oil flask, and bowl of olives by Kelly Borsheim