Thursday, January 29, 2009

Pink Morning


'Pink Morning' - oil - 11x14 - © Marc R. Hanson '09

My idea this morning was to paint the soft relationships between the elements on a very cold winter morning with just a slight bit of warmth showing in the awakening sky. This is the result.

I decided to limit my palette to Alizarin Crimson, Viridian and Yellow Ochre light, plus white. It was a good challenge. The painting is very thin, nearly a stain though opaque. I'm not sure the photo is capturing the subtlety but what's new?

This venture is interesting. I've been worried about how long I can continue this. Would my memory and conceptualization of an idea result in images that are more than generic 'cartoons' of reality? I'm impressing myself, sorry, with just how much there is within to draw from. I've only done 5 of these now, but I'm starting to feel very comfortable with the process. It's a real high to be painting an 'idea' vs rendering reference be it from life or photos.

5 comments:

Solvay said...

What a vivid group of paintings! So evocative!

I have to come back later when there's more time.

Beautiful, as always!

Christopher O'Handley said...

I'm really enjoying watching this series unfold...I've often wondered if I've got enough stored impressions from my painting trips to just paint from memory/imagination like this. You certainly do! The atmospheres you've created in these are wonderful.

An aside, wondering if you got my message (from Jan 5) about the workshop?

Chris

Anonymous said...

Marc, I'm really glad that you are starting to do this kind of thing. While it's great to paint from life (and that's where we learn), there's a gigantic hole in the new realism movment when it comes to stepping away from the live model. I don't see any of the big name painters doing this, yet working from the imagination is one of the greatest traditions in art. It needs to make a comeback in realism.

Great stuff, as always.

Leslie Saeta said...

Marc,
I love this blog. When I think that it is probably two degrees outside in Minnesota I think you are brilliant ... you can safely stay in your studio (and be warm) and paint all of those wonderful memories you have of warmer times! Very smart! For a guy from Minnesota ...

Kim VanDerHoek said...

This recent series has such a soft gentle feel to the landscapes you are creating. I feel a lot of emotion from these. Your soft palette is refreshing (I feel like I'm always using loud color in my work). Very beautiful!