I am so lucky to live in Cornwall, never a day goes past , that I don’t think that… I paint in the most beautiful Gallery / Studio in Falmouth , That belonged to one of my Painting Hero’s …….Henry Scott Tuke , when I look at his work which consisted mainly of semi naked boys fishing or bathing, I look at his work in wonderment not in a Perverse way but i cannot get over the amount of colours that he would use to paint Flesh tones, Pistatio Green , Lilacs, Aquas, Pinks etc and when you stand back from the canvas all those colours pull together and give muscle structure and tone.
I try to train my eye to really look at colour in anything and I mean really look and I am automatically mixing colours in my head to get those colours.
When I was doing this canvas of Ripples on the Rockpool, I was really inspired by Tukes technique to use very different colours such as pthalo blue ,purples and greens to bring to life the Rock on the left, even though the whole leftt side is in shadow, when you really look , you can pick out all the individual colours and that is what will bring life to the painting by using various shades of the same colours and contrasting / opposite colours you are giving form to the structure and finally by putting a few dots here and there in lighter shades you are adding the details in this case Barnacles, mussels and anenomes, which will make that section more interesting and shows you have really studied the subject you are painting.
Next time you want to Paint something, stare at the subject for 5 minute and then make a quick sketch and try and remember every detail you can and write notes too, so you can refer back, because it’s the minor details that will make all the difference to your picture, treat it like a brain training game.
