Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Studio Notes on Color


Some of the issues I'm tackling in my studio right now involve color. Although I use many warm hues in my block paintings, I also have relied strongly on neutrals - grays and browns, in particular - to convey seriousness about these objects not usually taken very seriously. One often associates playthings with garish colors and exaggerated forms meant to stimulate children. I have courted neutrality in my paintings to engage adults and give them fresh eyes for the subject. But, when you consider the groaning span of play from antiquity to the present I wonder if perhaps a more colorful interpretation is warranted. Instead of neutralizing the blocks and toys of today, what if a more colorful lens was applied to the past?

Right now I'm spending much of my studio time working on color studies and sketching blocks, toys, and artifacts. I'm also traveling and working on various artistic commitments this month. See the Events section on my website or my artist page on Facebook for more information about these events. In the meantime, I thought I'd share with you one of my paintings from 2007 called North Shore. In the past I have worked in both landscape and still life genres with an occasional figurative painting here or there. Although my blog is meant only to chronicle recent still life work, I thought you might enjoy looking at something else while I busy myself in the studio. I chose North Shore partly because I have beach on my mind after returning from Sunset Beach, NC last week, but also I think this painting has a joyful use of color that makes me excited about warm spring and summer days to come!
Posted by Gina Pruette at 7:19 AM

2 comments:

  1. I agree, Gina. Thank you for sharing this "old" painting with us. I like the warmth in the your color choices and the lines you use. It very much puts me in mind of Spring.

    Looking forward to seeing what "new" paintings await us, too.
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  2. For decades I have been inspired by the lines of the American landscape that modern artist Richard Diebenkorn has captured in his paintings. His figurative work contains many wonderful architectural and natural lines, especially diagonals, and his abstract work is loaded with them. In my landscape work I often use man-made lines such as bridges, power lines, and railings to organize and divide a view. In the future I hope to integrate more lines in my still lifes, as well. I am particularly interested in using lines to signify fragmentation as it relates to memory and learning. For now I have maintained a sense of "portraiture" in my block art and favor a strong contrast between subject and background. I feel this approach allows the objects to retain the viewer's focus; however, I do see the merit of more complicated compositions and hope to incorporate them when the time is right.
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