Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Christmas Cactus

Diane Mannion, Christmas Cactus, 8x10" oil on linen


      Played with a few new Rosemary brushes that just arrived from England!  Rosemary also sent a chocolate surprise which disappeared immediately.   
      Experimented with Gamblin's Chromatic Black, new on my palette.  Found it useful for toning down colors, interesting... transparent, bluish black.  Didn't seem to deaden colors like the more opaque Ivory Black.  John discovered somewhere online that the paint was called Ivory because it was once made from burnt elephant tusks, who knew!  I hardly ever have black on my palette, mix my own from red, blue, and yellow, but will continue working with Chromatic Black to explore new color possibilities.
      Pushed this painting in a more impressionistic direction than I usually work.  I'm happy with a few bits here and there, mostly the last few brushstrokes... deftly applied by my lovely Rosemary brush!

1 comment:

Sherry Schmidt said...

Oh how wonderful! Love Christmas cactuses, cacti...