Painting of the Week

Painting of the Week – Fiesta

Color promotes a Festive Atmosphere

I was in Oaxaco, Mexico enjoying lunch when we suddenly heard explosions go off. To calm our fears, a gentleman with us went and found out it was a wedding procession going down the street. I raced out with my camera for some interesting sites. You should have seen some of the masks….what can’t you do with Paper Mache? Frankly, some tall, man-made characters were left out of the painting as their irregularities didn’t draw out well. I wondered if the family sold decorative products as a business because of the quantities of unusual things up in the air. The bride was especially beautiful.

Many bright colors were painted first in this warm dominant painting but the clean crisp whites of the watercolor paper kept their sparkle. Red was played with in every way, intense and pure, to toned down into the browns, as light as pink or as dark as burgundy, warmed up with orange or cooled down to violet connecting everything. The brides dress started looking gaudy so glazes (transparent layers of color) were painted over the skirt to quiet down the reds and whites, leaving the brightest areas near her sash and hair. See how the variety of the complementary greens in the dresses really made the colors sing.

Sincerely,

 

 

 

Fiesta is available as a card and in very limited quantities as a Giclée.