Picking Colors

Two days ago I opened my pastel box for the first time in a couple of months.  It needs some serious reorganization.  When I am in painting, the last thing I am thinking about is putting the pastels back where I found them in my box.  I have been painting out of my cardboard boxes of additional colors.  I have been grabbing groups of similar colors and working them into the painting.  I will then grab a different group of colors to add to the painting.

Because I have been painting so much, I have been burning through the pastels.  As a result, I have gone through a lot of my favorite colors and a lot of dark colors because I use them to start the painting.  Color choices have changed.  Because I am not able to rely on the old reliable colors my paintings have changed to a degree.  Building relationships between these new color choices within the painting has made me grow as an artist.

As I go to clean and organize my pastel box, I will again get colors grouped together.  All of the reds together etc.  I wonder if that will change my color choices while I am painting.  I have had no difficulty in choosing the right color when they were all mixed up. In fact, I think having different colors sitting next to each other has helped me evaluate the color better.

These are some new colors that I was going to add to my box. These were the colors I purchased in a recent sale by Terry Ludwig pastels called "crazy eights".  For $18 you get a box of 8 randomly selected pastels.  My thought was that I would get to the location, paint, and then organize my paint box.  What happened was I got to the location, painted with the new pastels, and never cracked open my pallet or the extra boxes I have been using.  I would rather paint than organize.