Sunday, September 16, 2012

"The Dog Days of Summer" - 10 x 10 inches - oil on canvas - SOLD

I spotted this hot dog vendor setting up his cart before the lunch crowd arrived.  The challenge with this painting was the amount of bright, primary colors that were competing with each other.  The umbrella was bright yellow and red, the vendor's shorts were red, the cooler was a vivid blue and the background was very busy and filled with greens.  If I didn't make some alterations, the final product would have been an overwhelming onslaught of color.

My first decision was to shift the reds to more of an orange color to make them more harmonious with the yellow.  I also toned down the blue to make it more subdued.  The background was quite busy so I darkened it and just left a suggestion of the hedge that was behind him.

2 comments:

Kelley Carey MacDonald said...

Laurie you did a great job with a tough subject! And reds... *sigh*... I remember at a big workshop I attended a few years back, one of the students was a very advanced California painter and we were all showing our work at the end, and hers involved a red dinghy. The red just POPPED. Someone asked "What color red did you use for that spot there?" And she said "The red that I used for that spot there was 'orange'".

Maria Bennett Hock said...

great composition...love the reds and I love that you explained your use of color. The scene brings back good memories...Love it