For my second painting, purples and wine-like hues were calling me. The colors are not realistic to life because I wanted to focus on creating a calming, maybe mysterious, mood that emphasized the sunlit areas.
I worked from a picture I took of my bay windows in my room. I liked how none of the lines were perfectly vertical, nor perfectly horizontal. This painting is more graphic than the previous one (Goblet of Fire Stairs) because the shadows are darker and take up more space in the composition. I like the sharp contrast and the cozy, silent feeling it gives off. This painting is effective in warm tones because if it were cool-toned, it might feel quite severe or sad, which are not feelings that I am interested in portraying in my paintings.
I want a feeling of serenity, solitude, and simplistic, but impactful beauty. I am attracted to, and admire, sharp outlines of light cast onto surfaces. In my painting process, I laid down the undertones of the colors before layering on the cooler purples on top which I diluted with Artist’s Medium. I ended up liking the way this looked (layering a sheer wash of color over an opaque color underneath). This method adds an interesting depth. However, I do want to recall other oil painting techniques and utilize those as well. For example, I want to try to make the whole painting opaque with paint. These last two paintings, I have made the light (main focus of the paintings) the color of the canvas with a sheer coat of paint on top. I think it will be good for me to practice mixing the actual dynamic warm or cool tone of bright light myself.
