Blueberry Blush

I was tasked with creating a large, square custom canvas for a client's new home office. She knew her color palette and wanted something “happy" to go with it.  The client also wanted the piece to have visible brush strokes, include hints of pinkish coral, grayish-blues, muted greens, golds and creams. The style of the artwork would be loose and abstract.

Rifle Paper Company Mural

The client showed me swatches of the beautiful mural that she planned to put on the wall across from the piece. She also had picked out the color of paint for the wall that the artwork would rest on. This was very helpful to ensure that the piece would blend and mesh with the office environment.

I started my process by experimenting with mixing paint colors and dabbing them on little squares of watercolor paper. I wanted to get an idea of the position of my light and dark values. Also wanted to see if I could mix up those colors and get them to play well together. I made up a little sample palette for myself to work from and set aside some time to just play with colors. This proved to be very fruitful for me. Experimenting on small paper first helped me to not feel overwhelmed when tackling a very large canvas.

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After mixing up larger amounts of color, I started by building up the dark background and then gradually layering in the mid tones. Since circular shapes communicate happy to me, I decided to incorporate different shapes of varying sized circles. As I layered them on, a couple of them looked like blueberries to me. I love blueberries as they ripen because of the way they bloom into soft pinks and greens. Things were beginning to come together visually. I kept building and layering in blueberries at different stages of ripening.

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This challenge of making an abstract painting that communicates joy was thrilling.  While abstract pieces do  not attempt to represent reality, they do utilize shapes, hues and lines to communicate emotions.

I enjoy stepping out of my normal painting style and exploring large format pieces for grand walls that are both colorful and lively. It's invigorating to mix a little bit or realism with abstract splashes of light and textures.

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Once I had the painting mostly finished, I left it up on the easel for a couple of days to look at. I often build in this window of time just to walk by and see if there are any lingering issues bothering me about a piece. Often times I see things that I'd like to correct. This time also allows me to look at the piece in different lighting with fresh, rested morning eyes.

If you have a blank space and are craving some special art to pull your room's color palette  together, feel free to reach out. This was a very large 4 x 4' piece that filled the client's wall perfectly. Whatever your room size, I'm pretty sure I can get my hands on a canvas that will work beautifully. E-mail me here to inquire about pricing.