The Artist - UK (2020-05)

54 artistMay 2020 http://www.painters-online.co.uk

MODIFYING COLOUR: 5th of 13

S

pring always comes as such a

relief, especially if it’s been a

long winter. This wonderful time

of year brings new flowers and

foliage that can be used for our still-life

paintings. Every year I am surprised at

the freshness of this season. It is this

freshness and enthusiasm that I want to

Spring still life

Julie Collins explores her watercolour palette and shows how to create

bright, modified colours for fresh spring still-life paintings

STILL LIFE 1

I collected some thrift from my garden and then selected two pots from the collection in my

studio. The thrift was a soft pink and this colour inspired my choices for the entire painting.

I used quinacridone magenta and permanent alizarin crimson, in various tones, to make

more subtle pinks. If you look at the swatches of colours used, they are very different from the

swatches of the mixes and the finished painting. The main elements of this picture are the

subtle shifts between the greys and the tones of the greys that I have mixed.

capture in my spring still-life paintings.

All the examples here were planned

carefully but painted quite quickly

to capture the feeling of spring – the

colours you choose will convey this.

During 2019 there were several

major national exhibitions with the

word ‘colour’ in their titles, including

the Ivon Hitchens exhibition ‘Space

through Colour’ at the wonderful Pallant

House Gallery in Chichester. Hitchens

was constantly inspired by nature and

although he is mainly known for his

landscape paintings, this show included

still-life and flower paintings, as these

subjects also became central to his

art. He used a harmonious palette in

many of his still-life paintings of pots of

flowers set against a window and used

his colours to create luminosity. His

work is a fine example of how a limited

harmonious palette can be used to

good effect in your still lifes. There are

Cobalt blue + touch of burnt

sienna – pale tone

Cobalt blue + burnt sienna 50/50

• medium tone

Cobalt blue + touch of burnt

sienna – medium tone

Quinacridone magenta –

medium/pale tone

Cobalt blue – medium/pale tone

Viridian + cobalt blue + burnt

sienna – dark tone

Quinacridone magenta +

permanent alizarin crimson –

medium to dark tone

Cobalt blue + permanent

alizarin crimson + burnt sienna –

medium to pale tone

Quinacridone

magenta

Permanent

alizarin crimson

Viridian Cobalt blue Burnt sienna

Medium

/dark

Pale

Colours used: Winsor & Newton Professional Watercolours

MIXES