Back to Taos

Our gallery in Taos needs another piece. YIPPEE! Victoria asked, “Could you paint me a red door with a courtyard and maybe one of those cute little benches you do? People just seem to love them.” Jack has me well trained, I’m fairly obedient. So here goes. The basic design is drawn up on the canvas and we’re ready to start painting. The flowers are labeled to jog my memory as I paint.

Trees in the distance behind the wall are blocked in with mixes of Pthalo Blue + Orange + White. This makes a cool gray-green that drops back. The adobe color is mixed from Ultramarine Blue + Cadmium Orange + White. MUD (Ultramarine Blue + Alizarin Crimson) is added to the mixture for the shadows. Ultramarine Blue + White + a tiny touch of Cadmium Orange is used to cool the wall. You can especially see this on the left side of the painting. I also moved the door a little to the left from the original sketch on canvas. I felt it just gave the painting a little better balance.

Moving to the Wisteria I follow the usual sequence of “Flowers First, Leaves Last”. Blocking the blossoms in before the foliage allows the lavender colors made of Dioxazine Purple + White to remain bright and clean.

Adding the petals of the flowers catching the sunlight and long, twisting tendrils finishes out the wispy Wisteria. To see any of these pictures larger just click on the image.

A mixture of Magenta + Cadmium Red Deep is used for the shadow on the door while the bright portion in the sun is pure Cadmium Red Light. Thank you for visiting our studio today. Have a wonderful day. Hugs, Mikki Senkarik

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