A Splash of Color That Catches Your Eye

Stonington Green final  6"x12" oil on canvas board

Stonington Green drawing in paint on a toned canvas

A splash of color in the landscape grabs your attention, doesn't it? A red barn in the midst of green corn fields, a bright orange boat on blue water, or brightly colored houses by the sea, they are all eye catching. I love finding those splashes of color. And I love including them in my paintings.

But there's more to creating color in paintings than what's on the top layer. I often prime my canvas with complementary colors to those that will be predominant in the painting. For example, an orange or red color for landscapes, to complement the blue sky and green foliage. Little bits of this under layer will show through in the final painting, which makes the colors in the top layer pop. I think you can see that in the example of Stonington Green above.

Summer Marsh  underpainting 8"x10" oil on linen panel

What's even more fun, is to block in the structure of the painting in bright colors as an underpainting. Once again, little bits of this underpainting will show through in the final painting. I used this process on Summer Marsh. The orange, purple and blue version above is the underpainting.

Summer Marsh final 8"x10" oil on linen panel

Can you see little bits of the underpainting showing through the final version above?

Backdoor to Seal Bay Complements  5"x7" oil on gessobord

And sometimes, what starts as an underpainting becomes so interesting, that it stands by itself and becomes the final painting. That's what happened above in this version of Backdoor to Seal Bay, painted with a knife. Crazy color, no?