Melissa and I went to a local Art Festival this past weekend and there were some very good artists exhibiting - one artist in particular caught my eye. As most of you know, I LOVE COLOR AND TEXTURE - to me it is what painting is all about. The artist that caught my eye was from MIAMI and she came into this world without a FEAR OF COLOR!!!!
Sooooooo that said - and I just said it - the artist that caught my eye did very large - very very very colorful "MIAMI" type tropical pieces soooooooo I said to myself "Self - go home and try some of this style for yourself, adjusting it to fit into your own style."
"TECHNICALLY COLOR"
18 X 24 ON HEAVY LINEN PAPER- done with a big brush - (2 inches) - and my trusty buddy "MACK THE KNIFE!"
I pulled out all the stops on this piece in that all and any caution was thrown to the wind and working wet into wet with every ounce of emotion - gusto - and spontaneity in color and knife strokes I let the paint fly and land where it landed! :>) VERY LIBERATING!!!
First I throw in my sketch - pencil lines to show "where" & "direction" nothing fancy as you know, I always go outside the lines --- I'm a non-conformist - :>)
Next using a 2 inch brush I throw in a vertical sky as the painting is going to be vertical in orientation so why not a vertical sky!!
Next using my palette knife I put in the horizon line indicated by the darker vision of the ocean
Again, with my trusty buddy "MACK THE KNIFE" I put in the ocean and of course make sure to include that Caribbean green that everyone loves
When I threw in the sky I painted around the palm tree trunk and of course I won't stay within the sketched lines anyways so accuracy was not an issue
At the same time I use the palette knife to put in a trunk and throw some cast shadow onto the sand
NOW - this next part requires that I work very quickly in order to get a good blending of color as I apply it wet into wet so I did not take any "progression photos" as time is of the essence!
Once again this is a painting about COLOR & TEXTURE found in paintings in this area of Florida straight down and over into MIAMI and down into the KEYS - if you know MIAMI - you know MIAMI is know for and proud of its COLOR & TEXTURE.
Now I throw in the sandy beach using my palette knife with strokes that use the whole swing of the arm
WE NOW HAVE A FINISHED PAINTING DONE IN A LOOSE PAINTERLY FASHION
EXPRESSING THE COLOR AND TEXTURE OF MY VISION OF
"MIAMI ART"
Close ups of the bold - colorful - MIAMI induced palm fronds
- look at this long enough and your blood will start to BOIL, you feet will start to TAP and move and get HOT - you'll want to take off your shoes and before you know it you will be up doing the MIAMI SALSA!!!
SI AMIGOS
Hope you enjoyed this little demo as much as I did when painting it.
Until next week about this same time - stay loose - embrace color - start the hips rolling and get into the MIAMI SALSA!!!!!!
JR :>)
