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We all need someone to look up to, to emulate to a certain extent...or...maybe not. I love seeing bright, rich, and a deft use of color in paintings and artists like Collin Page, Karen Jurick, and Carol Marine (they are all on my blog roll). I want to use color like them. Some artists out there, and maybe you dear reader, are already dialed in in this regard, but I, am still dialing and especially with my acrylic work. Hey, look at my history! TRUE STORY: When I was in the first or second grade, the school nurse called my parents and suggested that I might need some psychological help. Why?...because unlike the other tikes, I did all of my art in black pencil and crayon...no colors! To my parent's great credit, they blew off the nurse's advice. And by golly, how right they were, because at that young and tender age, I already knew that paintings are built upon a foundation of values, and an artist needs to know how to manipulate value! Color follows value and way, way, waaay back when I was in first (or second) grade, I instinctively knew that!
So here is another semi-sorry attempt at using color. I worked from a ref. photo I took at the Monterey Boat Works next door to the Monterey Aquarium. My colors are a hybrid of the colors I saw in the photo and some I made up. It's the making up part that I struggle with. Hmmm...maybe that school nurse was being my crystal ball into the future...I would later need counseling and training in color!