Sorolla Colour study (with cows!)

 

This weeks study has been really enjoyable! A bit (very) tricky.. but that is what I enjoyed. The colour temperatures were something I wanted to capture, but I think in some parts it was something I exaggerated a bit too much, For example in the sail I think I made part of the blues far too blue. But I really think I could improve my eyes more! I will keep studying hard for this since colour is something I have been struggling with. When designing the past few months I have exclusively been working in greys. I have started to think about colour for them but part of me knows I need to push more to get more harmonious colours. But designing in grey has been a positive because I have been thinking more of the actual design instead of hiding everything behind colours. 

Now back to the study... Something I also had issues with was accidentally making things too dark. I know when they photograph paintings the contrast is usually exaggerated so when it came to painting the base of the boat at first I made it around 5% to black but I then pulled it back a bit since it was taking up so much attention and it was hard to look at anything else. 

What I really liked about this piece was the more I looked at it the more people I saw! When I first looked I initially saw 2 men but the more I looked the more I realised there was 5. The man behind the man with the plank of wood was really hard to paint in since his values and colours are so similar to the ones on the boat so while painting I had a lot of back and forth. 

Also! The blues and greens and yellows in the water were so pretty!! But again hard to capture with the saturation. 

I know I said this week I would try traditional but I think I will leave that until the Christmas holidays since I am so swamped with uni work and trying to keep on track. But these studies are nice to use as a break from my uni work and as a cool down before I go to sleep. I really love to break them down and to appreciate the beauty in these works.