Truth in Color

"Shadow Patterns"
12 x 8, Oil on Linen
(c) Lesley Powell

You may have noticed in my profile (to the right) that my mantra is to make my paintings convincing, while still leaving something to the imagination.

I have been working on the approach that uses "truth in color", for lack of a better phrase, to make my paintings convincing. I believe that if I can accurately capture the color relationships of the subject I am painting, then the painting will be convincing, even if parts of it are left very loose and undefined--even unfinished. 

"Roussillon from Afar"
7 x 14, Oil on Linen
(c) Lesley Powell

Recently I read a post by Robert Glenn in his wonderful blog "The Painter's Keys". He wrote that "if you manage to get the right color, your painting can look 'true'". Yet as he notes, "God may work in light, but we mortals work in pigment." That means that we can only approximate what occurs in the real world. But boy, what an exhilarating moment when we do nail those color relationships.

I am taking the liberty of quoting Robert Glenn below. I love his succinct description of the steps involved in the struggle of mixing accurate colors. This is a struggle not for the faint of heart!

Looking is opening your mind to your impressions.

Seeing is replacing what you know with what you see.

Mixing is the knowledgeable confluence of pigments.

Testing is comparing your preparations with the truth.

Adjusting is the will to fix your flagrant wrongs.