Changes

I have been pushing through some changes to my pallet and my processes.  I have added about 8 colors to my pallet to get greater variety.  One of the colors was radiant white.  It really goes a long way to create some of the higher keys that I have searching for.

I added walnut oil to my painting routine about a week ago.  I wanted to keep the rich vibrancy of my color choices.  I had been using Gamsol to thin my paint.  I developed some good effects this way but it seemed like my colors were being washed out.  I adopted the practice of using walnut oil to help move the paint around on my board.

This is the full line of colors in my pallet currently.  I am trying to arrive at a pallet that pushes my range of values.  I am trying to find the highest and lowest notes within each painting.  I want to push the limits of the values that I can reach.  

Here I have laid out the tubes of paint in the same order as I put them on my pallet.

One of the other changes I have made is to gesso the boards I am painting on.  By putting gesso on my boards my hope is to have the board suck up less paint.  By painting on a white surface I should be able to create brighter paintings.

In evaluating my recent paintings, I have to say my strategy is working.  My recent efforts are brighter and more colorful.  I am happy I made these changes.