What Blue Was That?

I have been asked what blue I was using in that background. It was Daniel Smith Verditer...supposedly low staining but I am not being to successful in it's removal...I only try to buy low staining colors for this reason. The other problem is it is a color mix...I wish I had the tube to look at what colors were used...I never use mixes either...so there is rule 2 broken. I also never use a new color in large areas until I have tested it...broke that one too! HHHa! Obviously not doing well that day! This blue is stunning but it separates alot, even in my little dish I made up of it. Also I think it might work better on 140# paper which would be less thirsty...the 300# was soaking it up pretty fast I think. Different papers react differently...I wanted to try this theory out but cannot find the tube and I think because I was working so fast I wonder if in turning the board my tube fell into the garbage can and got taken out because it has totally disappeared! Ha! Evidently I am not suppose to use that one again! :) I will not be working on this very much for awhile because I have a demo to work up for a group of about 100 artists. Then I have a demo for the RRWS and then a three day workshop all by the the first weekend in June and with everything happening as it has, I have not had the time to pull things together. I think what I will do is maybe post some of my thoughts on the demos to see what you think...hope I have the time. I will be discussing values for them and so have to work up the demo...a dear friend has lent me a photo actually because it showed exactly what I was thinking about and it will save time to use hers for now...it is sure great to have friends!
Also I have been asked what blues do I use...and so here is what is on my palatte right now...Indanthrone blue which is my favorite blue...it mixes well with everything. Indigo is there...just playing with it again because I normally do not have it on my palatte but it does help to go darker in mixes, Prussian Blue which I added recently and have not had on my palatte for about 7 years but testing it again, Phthalo Turquoise which I like to mix in my shadow greens, and Cobalt Teal Blue. I think this would change if I did more landscapes but since it is mostly still life work these seem to be the colors I need. I maybe need to try more landscape blues to see how they work. I have Cobalt but since it is a granulating color it is not good for glass etc so that is sort of my criteria. Hope this answers a few questions!

The Fix!

Ok...for those of you seeing this...check out the picture below as well to see the mess I have and here I am going to explain what I am trying to do. First of all...just going dark was not the answer...it is a bright sunny day to begin with and secondly a dark color would have hidden the one bird completely. It was not appropriate. I eventually came up with this rock wall as I felt the blue could come through it and not be too bothersome. The blue is staining and so lifting as you can see in the far left edge is not easy and will abraid the paper. The rocks seem to be working and so will continue with that and then I will have to figure out the area above the tallest dahlia as I spilled some juice while I was sick...it will only darken with any washes over it...so that I am still thinking about. None of the painting is done at this point and now with the wall this dark it will mean that the flowers will need alot of value adjusting...but I am going to try to save this piece. Oh, I forgot to mention why I thought of trying such a bright blue! Not my normal color is it? Ha! I started to think this would make a great garden flag etc. and they usually want a bright color in them...I guess I learned my lesson...play with new paint and understand it. I never use new stuff as I know what my old palette will do. It was careless with such a beautiful piece to do this. I guess we can safely say I was not in my right mind at the time!!! Lesson learned!

My Apologies!

This area of my life has been put on hold. It has been strange how so many things can happen at once. I got back from my one week trip after being sick 5 weeks...only to have a dear friend dying and she passed away the 10th. In between that another dear friend was told her cancer was not operable...so that has been troublesome to me. Then another friend on Sunday when returning from sunrise services was in a car accident and lost her left eye, shattered jaw and eyebone area. I am hoping it will settle down but went for a massage today and he said that even on athletes he has never felt such tight muscles...all stress I guess because it is not that I have time to exercise! Ha! But things will improve...it is always those initial weeks that you adjust and move on.
I wanted to show you the mess I made of my background and then try to show you gradually how I HOPEFULLY solve it. I was pretty depressed the day I tackled it after the first news of my friend...and for some very odd reason thought I would try a new blue I had never tried...it is a mix and you know I stick to pure color and transparent. Well it separated even on the paper and it could not be made into a smooth wash...once I started with it I felt I had to keep going as it was shifting the values of the whole painting...so I will post that here for you to see and then post again as to what I am trying to do now.