Sunday, November 23, 2014

NEW HAMPSHIRE SCENES: COLORS (and color mixing)

New Hampshire Scenes:  Colors

Daybreak with a Dusting   oil   9X12    $250
Bleak November is not so bleak in New Hampshire. 
Color is there for those who choose to look. 

Putting the Sun to Bed  oil 9X12   $250
Wake in time for the sunrise on a clear day, ( not difficult now that we're on standard time), chase sunsets, search out  the occasional blueberry bush that still has it's scarlet leaves, look closely at a tree trunk, at the mist, into the distance. 

At this time of year I look for the burgundy leaves left on the oaks, the lighter and bleaching out leaves of the beeches, and the occasional fern at the edge of the forest that has decided to "try again" and adds its touch of bright spring green. 

Color is every where, one of the joys of life.
Colors are FUN…
lively, brash, outspoken, 
subtle, seductive, 
calm, shy, secretive.

Color… Find it outdoors, and, for an extra dose, visit an artist's studio. 
Pastelist have hundreds of sticks.
I won't count mine, but my friend  Beth teased me years ago about how many sets I had, and I have more now.)

The color miracle, though, is seasoned plein air painter using oil paints. This is the painter who goes out with white and the primaries…Blue, Red and Yellow (perhaps with both a "cool" and  "warm" of each primary.)

BLUE BLU BLEU!  oil abstract   9x12
Think of it…
ALL WE SEE, the colors of the rainbow, are variations of those three primaries!  
All of nature!    EVERYTHING!

And to "switch to oils," or merely add them to my repertoire, I had to learn to mix those colors?  Not that I hadn't done charts to search out subtleties, or even had to mix and layer colors in my pastel work, but a systematic development of charts was on order…part of what I worked on during my "hiatus." 
The above paintings were two of the earliest when I was finished working on my "charts,"
RED ROSSO ROUGE!   oil abstract   9X 12
But I had great fun with each of the primary colors as I went…


For collectors, art lovers, nature lovers,
Red, Yellow and Blue are the base,
but consider the myriad possibilities!
Think of the subtleties! The shades!
The variety! 
The differences!
And, 
Maybe,
(not to wax philosophic, 
but I can't help it)
in a disagreement 
or argument with someone,
remember that it is often the great variety,
of possibilities (and opinions)
that create the amazing world we have...
YELLOW GIALLO JAUNE!  oil abstract   9X12

There is definitely room 
for more than one shade of anything! 
SO, 
If November is bleak, 
and December through March…
find an artist's studio to visit… 
Guaranteed color! 
OR, 
In MY neighborhood?  (Freedom, NH)

Visit my studio

Or, for a very quick dose of color, 
visit my   website ,

 Contact me  at    barbaramcevoy@me.com with questions and/or comments.