Kodak Bullet


16"x24" oil on canvas I have written in the past about my friend yellow. I stated that, if there was a wimp on an artist's palette, it would be yellow. Do not get me wrong, I love the color yellow, but in the world of artist pigments, it just so easy to beat up. Now, if I were to look for a bully on the palette, it would most definitely be somebody from the Family Red. Red is so intense that it intimidates any color it lands next to or mixes with. Blue might calm you down, but red makes you edgy—it likes to announce its presence with authority. Heck, it even confounds all the 1s and 0s in a digital camera. You may be asking why I am bringing this up. Well, take a look at the piece above. Painting a red background—in the manner in which I paint—is kind of like painting with a stick of dynamite in your hand. Everything is going along fine and then you throw down a shot of red and BAM! There goes the neighborhood. After and intense red moves in, it is a challenge to maintain your values. My main issue with red is this: I cannot stay away from it. It is just so dang gorgeous. So, I inevitably find myself standing in front of piece thinking or yelling, "What the heck am I doing?!?! I know painting with red is like painting in a minefield, and yet, here I am again."

Posted March 5, 2019


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