Thursday, October 8, 2009

Process Alterations



Recently I did a painting with what is referred to as the "Zorn palette". By doing it I added black to my cache of paint colors. This morning before painting I squeezed a little on my palette and used it to make some of my greens. Maannn it makes beautiful greens. I loved it. It was a bit overcast so the greens out there were real warm and rich, full of color. With the black I could get those rich, warm greens. I had to be careful though with the blue greens. They would seem to get too blue at times and I would have to warm them a bit.
I have found painting to be one of the most fluid, organic things I have attempted. As soon as I get settled on something, I find something I like better. I think I referred to myself as fickle in one of the previous posts. I have changed brushes, panels, paint colors. And now I have black in my arsenal. I am also trying some different paint brands. I tried the Sennelier brand paints recently and I haven't come to a definitive opinion on them yet but you will be the first to know when I do.
I don't know if I will ever find just one way to do this. There are some I enjoy more than others but there are just so many ways to get from point A to point B in this that it's always experimentation and changing. It also dosen't help that my head is like Play-Doh.
The paintings posted are from the past two days. The beanfield is from Cheatham Wildlife Managemant Area at Hudgin's Slough and the other is a private farm in Totty's Bend. It's the one I added the black to.

6 comments:

Doug said...

These are really nice Mr. Menck! Black is really handy. You can make a mid-gray really fast and then bend it warm or cool with some of your colors. Saves on mixing up lots of expensive colors to get gray.

I was getting tired of looking at that blue vase of flowers... It's nice... but getting a bit old... glad to see the trees again... : )

Kevin Menck said...

Thanks Doug.
Speaking of getting tired of looking at a painting, that barn and pole on Paintapalooza has worn it's luster off a bit.

Chris Ousley said...

Good to see some new posts. Black is a good addition. You always have to be ready to improvise and experiment.

Doug said...

touche'

Chris Ousley said...

Kevin, have you run out of paint? You probably have been painting so many fall 'scapes that you have no time to post.... Yea, that's the ticket!

kim shields said...

you have made a simple landscape look fabulous. referring to your note on trying new things in painting, I sometimes feel as I am doing it "wrong" when I try something different. Is there a wrong way to paint?