Here is a recent inquiry I received from a fellow artist:
“I, like you, have been lucky enough to be in ProvenceÂ
during Lavender season, and i have been back several times. My question is….that color of “blue” on the shutters and doors you see everywhere…what color is that, and how can I mix it. William Alexander got me hooked on painting several years ago, and I even have my own Mt Ste. Victoire hanging in my house. Any help you have with this color is greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. -JH”
To which I replied:
“Hi JH- could you be more specific? I’ve seen a particular blue/gray and also a more vivid blue in the shutters. But both are a challenge to mix. If you use pure local color, the shutters tend to look too bright and candy-like. However, I’ve had some success with mixing combinations of Rembrandt’s Sevres Blue + Cobalt Blue +
white and a *touch* of cadmium orange to gray it down as needed. How much of each in the combination depends on the value and hue of the shutter. Try that and see what you think.”
…And here’s my own bit of experimenting with just that very challenge:
“The Little Shop on the Corner”
Roussillon, Provence, France
Oil on Canvas, 16×20″
Jennifer
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it’s very much like cooking, mixing colours…
“needs, more blue, more orange, some warmth..etc… ” local colour, the colour of the light, reflecting colours, the colour of the shadow..now the intensity, then the relationship in the picture frame… all these determine the blue..
That’s my opinion anyway:)
Precisely put Ming! All of those factors weigh in on the final “formula” for your color mixing. It’s impossible to have one formula for “that blue” or any other blue, but that is the fun of it! And as JH and I discussed offline, that blue changes with age. I consider it more beautiful when the sun and weather washes away some of the newness of the colors.
Jennifer – I was browsing your beautiful paintings and stumbled upon this one: I know the place and recognized the shop immediately!
I stayed in Provence for a few days last year and every morning I had my Caf̩ au Lait and a Pain au Chocolat on a terrace just up the street from this place. And what a beautiful little shop it is Рand a beautiful painting!
Thanks for bringing back great memories!
Regula- Thanks so very much for the lovely comments about my work! If my painting can conjure up such fine memories (of pain au chocolat, no less!) then I feel that I’ve really accomplished something!:-)