I Think I'm Turning Japanese!

I think I'm turning Japanese! That old 1980's hit by the Vapors is playing in my head while I'm hitting the easel with something new and very colourful! Inspirde by my quick trip to the Japanese Garden in Würzburg. 

This one has been mooching around in my head for quite some time now, so after mulling it over for long enough we're splashing out with colour, and here’s my reference. 

Reference photos are seldom perfect but this one nearly hits the spot for me but with one exception….. in my painting I've splodged in a piece of Japanese statuary which is in the garden but in another part of it (you can see it sneaking in there off centre left.)

As to the painting itself, it’s a biggie at 60cm x 80cm and on a dark blue support which although I like it, it makes painting trickier because it is in effect the ''dark'' values, in pastel painting artists tend to use a mid value support and then put in the darks and lights, here the support shows you basically where the dark values are.

Another thing I've noticed which is a change for me, is switching off my trusty iPad when I think I don’t need to follow my photo slavishly anymore, often what seems to make sense in a photo just doesn’t work in a painting. 

Another hack I use when I don’t want to get sidetracked by local colour is changing my reference with a black and white filter, this helps in two ways, a) your palette can do its own thing and b) you become very clear about your values, as the saying goes ''colour takes the credit but values do all of the work!''

And while I'm turning Japanese, I certainly won’t be inspiring myself with Sushi …. It does nothing for me and I'm afraid I don’t understand all the hype! I'll stick with good old cheddar on toast ….. ahhh yes you can take the girl out of Scotland but not Scotland out of the girl!