3 colors oil on canvas 16x20x3
I was reminded recently of the advantage of limiting oneself when making work in order to eliminate some of the "noise" of a seemingly endless array of options. There are many ways to do this such as sticking with a particular theme or working within a strict time frame. In this painting, I decided to limit my options color-wise by using only French Ultramarine, Cadmium Red Hue, and Naples Yellow (and a white, of course).
I've used this trick before in a painting I did of a group of birds (Territory) a while back. I think the result is that the colors become unified since they all relate to one another physically. In this painting as with the other one, I used different variations of the 3 primary colors. What would be an interesting future project is to make a series of paintings that pull from only secondary or tertiary colors.
Another aspect worth considering is how color choices relate to the subject of the painting. I think the colors in the above painting when coupled with the pose of the model, give a sense of heartbreak. Maybe it's all that red. This wasn't intentional, just something that happened. But I wonder what kind of "read" one would have of the painting if the colors had been slightly different. Would the model look sick or tired or bored? I don't know. Worth thinking about though.