last week as I was painting from the seawall in Hull, I was reminded of a concept that I had struggled with when I first studied to be a plein air painter. everyone talked about color harmony but no one seemed to be able to tell me what they meant by it or how to achieve it. one day the penny dropped and I got it. Not sayimg I always achieve harmony but I usually know when I miss and why. 

  The principle goes like this: The only reason we see things at all is that they are revealed to us by light of some sort. The proof is that in a darkened closet we see nothing. Almost always light has a certain bias or predominant color and that color alters our perception of the inherent color of everything it touches

    ....Imagine there is a red light above a nightclub and someone is wearing a bright green sweatshirt..(this is not a fancy place.).. the sweatshirt would never look really bright green in those conditions..it might look grey or reddish green but never bright green...Now imagine that same person goes into the club and the lights on the tables are green..that sweatshirt will be intensified and we see it as being green again.

   Well, on a sublter level, most natural light has a bias. Some days are milky and there is a slightly cooler pink or mauve effect washing over everything, other days are really warm so slight yellow or orange wash over things. The inherent color of things is not usually totally lost,  just shifted a bit towards the overall color of the light.

    When you do this properly you acheive color harmony...all the colors looks right somehow..nothing feels dead or out of place because we recognise nature's effects and when we capture those effects..there is something in us that waves back and says "AHHHH"

     In nature you would seldom have both sides of the color wheel at full saturation in your scene.. always the overall light effect will shift the color towards the warmer or cooler side of the spectrum and the other end will look more muted.. for example in a very warm scene..full sun say.. your yellows and reds and oranges might be super bright but the purples will be muted, neutralised and even the blue and green will not equal the yellows and reds in intensity. This is how you replicate nature,s palette and create color harmony. some artist make it a habit of eliminating the color from their palette that is the most opposite to the overall light effect on the day. For instance on a really cool day they might remove their purest yellow or on a warm day they might remove their purple or bright blue. other artists might mix a little of the predominant color effect into each color mixture they make..others might overpaint with a color muted with the predominant color effect.. all of these are valid technique and truly there is no right or wrong way to achieve the effect just so long as you are cognisant of what is going on with the light. 

    another thing to consider is that areas that are not as expose to this light are less affected by it..shadows under houses or crevices in rocks for instance and they are usually less cool  than the more affected cool top planes ofthings in a cool landscape and less warm than the top planes in a warmer atmospheric effect..and there is still the added complexity of bounced light picking up the color from the surface it bounced from (think grass warming the bottom part of a wall in the shadow). 

        in this piece I was painting, my first pass was pretty crude and seemed garish. the beach grasses were an olivey green and quite warm. when i really looked at the scene again. I realised that there was a slight haze...a milky effect over the scene so I mixed up a cooler mauved green and laid it over the bright overly warm grasses and suddenly the color harmony was working

      understanding these principles has also really helped me when I am dealing with difficult colors..subtle neutrals etc..

I and my two art buddies have discovered a series of 12 instructional videos that are totally engrossing and great for painting along! You can get em from Peggy Kroll Roberts website What we have decided to do is share the cost and rotate the DVDs every few months. We also get together to view and discuss them. The really get you to loosen up and have some fun with it and after having a very rigid training period this is just what I need at this time. She respects the basics but also likes to bring her own contemporary esthetic sensibility to it as well. I strongly recommend studying from these especially to improve your speed when working from figures in landscapes or in groups as your primary subject matter.

Here is the original concept...rough thumbnail.I liked this composition best

   The best of times, the worst of times....a wonderful month or so with my beautiful grandson , Miles in england, followed by an emergency trip to Winnipeg to be with my ailing Mother as she struggles with old age and increasing infirmity. Such is life..the good all rolled up with the bad...not much time at the easel over the last couple of months.

   When life interferes like this, as it inevitably does, I like to break open my art book, magazines, teaching videos and take stock of the health of my painting process. This past few months have taken me on an interesting journey that has me refocusing on ramping up my compositional skills. I have to get in the habit of doing the thumbnail studies and looking at my work from a strictly abstract point of view before putting a mark on my canvas. This planning ahead goes against my " seat of my pants" nature but I think it will eventually pay of once I get to the point of being able to see the strength or weakness of my drawing automatically instead of being so labored about it. The sad fact is..if the compositions sucks ..the painting sucks... no matter what you are saying or how beautifully you lay the paint down....

This is the work in progress based on the thumbnail.

    Every year my new year,s resolutions are the same: read more art books instead of just looking at the pictures,...pay more attention to my process when I work...lose weight...exercise more...In other words, somehow transform myself from the person I actually am into the person I should be. This year I am finally letting go of all that. This year my resolution is to adopt an attituude of acceptance and plenty rather than one of judgement and scarcity...in all aspects of my life including my painting!

        How much more adventurous and creative would we all be if we could just stop thinking about every painting as so very important and precious! The paint would go on thicker and with more gusto..( after all there is more where that came from! ). We would find ourselves playing more and enjoying it all so much more! I guess it is one of those paradoxes in life..if you want your paintings to end beautifully , care less about the final result and enjoy the process more. Be present for every stroke in a loving accepting way, surprise yourself as you work, mix it up a bit. Accept the happy accidents and if things really don,t go well, scrape or discard and move on with a little lesson on what not to do tucked into your toolbox. 

         BTW I am going to be part of a show at south street gallery in hinghham Ma...they are celebrating 10 years with a show highlighting 10 painters, myself included. The opening is feb 10th in the evening. i hope to see you there.