Artistic Lines
from Joan Justis
April 2013
joanjustis.com
Photo of Daffodils in Vase ©2013 Copyright Joan Justis-All rights reserved.
The problem with painting daffodils is the yellowness. Daffodil petals are translucent making it difficult to create visible differences between light filled cups and shadowed edges. And the same pigment appears to be a different hue depending on the surrounding colors.
My daffodils were gorgeous in the red vase. The back light made them glow and the vase dazzled with filtered sunlight. I chose a tertiary triad of yellow orange, red violet and blue green playing the colors back and forth on each other. But the result is disquieting.
Daffodils in Red Vase 8″ x 10″ oil on canvas. ©2013 Copyright Joan Justis-All rights reserved.
Then I did a pencil rendition and hoped that analagous color choices (see http://joanjustis.com/color-made-simple/ ) for the next painting would create the glowing feel of daffodils in the sun. I chose yellow green, yellow (in several different values), yellow orange and went on to red orange. I found the results more appealing and felt successful.
Yellow Daffodils 8″ x 10″ oil on canvas ©2013 Copyright Joan Justis-All rights reserved
There also seemed to be some different psychological vibes coming from the two pictures. I looked at the website http://karenhaller.co.uk/blog/colour-psychology…-the-meaning-of-yellow/ . Then I watched my DVD entitled How Colors Affect You: What Science Reveals published by The Great Courses. http://thegreatcourses.com . The most ambitious site I found is http://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-yellow.html . Have fun with these.
Even though I used the same yellow pigments in both pictures the analogous painting is a better example of light and color harmony.
