In this new painting I concentrated on lightening my palette. I was tired of the darker and heavier colors that I had been using. Limiting my palette to three basic colors, plus black, white, raw umber and light portrait pink really helped me to simplify my approach to this painting. The three basic colors I used were quinicridone magenta, pthalo blue [green shade] and pthalo green [blue shade]. All the colors you see in the painting were mixed from these colors. This insures that all the colors will relate to one another...None of that funny feeling you get when your colors are fighting and clashing.
I was pretty generous with my white paint, which kept the colors light and summery [like sorbet, as my daughter observed]. I had not used a retarding medium much in the past. [I always wanted my work to dry at lightening speed.] This time however, I used the retarder in order to make the blending of the background and skirt easier. I'm now a devout convert to retarding medium. I also added a bit of Flow medium to make my high velocity paints more fluid. Matte medium is pretty much a constant in my mixtures to make sure the first layers, [usually pretty papers, stamps and vintage ephemera] can peek through.
Because I used a charcoal outline, I will need to use a spray acrylic varnish that is archival so the line won't smudge. The only one I know is by Golden. I'm not liking the fact that it is highly toxic. So if anyone knows of a better choice, please let me know.
This painting is available as a print in my Etsy store: cindysilver.etsy.com




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