Thursday, January 9, 2014

Simplicity

6"x6" Oil on Gessoed Panel
with Palette Knife
SOLD



And now something completely different—a country house painted with the Zorn color palette. 

Anders Zorn was a Swedish painter during the turn of the last century. He was known for using a limited palette of only four colors: black, white, yellow ochre and red. While painting with the Zorn limited palette, I first mourned the lack of blue to make green and nice cool shadows. I was beginning to think this was going to be an epic fail. As I kept working with the palette, I discovered the color range was more diverse than I thought. The most interesting thing was that I had to think more in terms of value than color. 



In the end, I am very pleased with the painting. I'm glad I didn't give into the temptation to add blue to the mix. This little country house, in the Zorn limited palette,  is a testament to the beauty of simplicity. Though I'm not quite ready to move into the house of Zorn just yet, it was a very nice visit.




2 comments:

  1. Your subject matter is terrific, love the impasto you created. Doing some Zorns myself, once I use up the mess I have on my palette today. Paint on!

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  2. Kudos to you, I would be lost without blue. I was just looking at the catalog wishing for more than the 12 colors on my palette. You have painted my dream house, a lovely little cottage with a porch. Beautiful!

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