Let's See Where Were We?

Steady progressions in blues and golds, that's where I spent most of yesterday with this Godiva painting. Nope, not into the chocolates yet. Still establishing the second wave of lights: insides of paper sleeves, the broken gold seal, some light shadows. And the golden progress on right hand box and the bon bon sleeve that sits upon it has begun. Brush loves to paint blues, and I love to paint yellows and golds so we were smiling there.

You'll also see some of the under painting on the darker box to the left. And another glaze on the front of the gold one. These are the beginnings of some compliments going to work. Color families I'll play in as I work toward the middle tones and the darks. I can't wait to put the next layers on those. Brush is warming up already.

One thing I want in a painting is depth. That can happen in several ways. In the drawing of course. ( Compare the size of the central players and those truffles still in the box.) Easy one there. Another way I get depth is in value changes. And another is to play compliments off one another. There are a few more options to play with too. Those will show up as we go along. But the point is if I want my painting to "pop", to have impact, I better have a good grip on those basics. Why? So I can push them to work for me.

Do you have favorite colors on your palette that you like to paint, or colors in your life that you can't live without? And do you learn the rules so you can bend them a bit?