Friday, April 19, 2019

Painting The American Flag

I'm back at the supermarket parking lot again, this time casting an eye skyward.


It's a cloudy day with a steady breeze from the south. The flag catches my eye, and I decide to paint it in gouache. I mute the colors and warm them, which means the blue is just a gray. I gradate both the flag colors and the sky colors toward an imaginary fiery orb behind the flag.


(link to YouTube)
As I say in the video, local colors become interesting when they are transformed by a system of illumination.  That's how you animate colors—modulate them according to a logic of light. That logic might be atmospheric perspective, light and shadow, or in this case, halation / lens flare / or color corona.
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Check out the website of my pal "Big Jim" Mushett, who will paint a portrait of your favorite car when he's not rounding up your shopping cart.

3 comments:

Paul S said...

simply amazing.... I wish I could see the way you do...great work!

Steve said...

Once again, making the ordinary extraordinary. Thanks for the introduction to Big Jim. Enjoyed seeing (on his website) his obvious love of car design.

Bells said...

You're my inspiration... Really fantastic :) Have a nice week!