Cupid’s Arrow
11×10 Oil on Linen
Margret E. Short copyright 2010
CM Russell Museum Masters in Miniature 2010 July 29 through September 11
Great Falls, Montana
Being the hopeless and helpless mad scientist, I just can’t help playing around with colors. Over the past while, RED has been on my palette and has been manipulated and pushed like Caesar crossing the Rubicon. Often red will completely overpower a composition if the mass is too large and used with too many other powerful colors. The trick is not to go overboard with lots of colors.
Several reds were considered, cadmium red, vermilion, cinnabar, pyrol ruby red, and others. By keeping the palette restricted to a simple complimentary 2 color scheme perhaps the red would be dominant without being garish. Robert Doak’s vermilion was chosen, but his color is powerful as it comes from the tube. I knocked it down with some chromium oxide green used for the leaves. In spite of this tempering, because the tulips are the sole star performers, the red remained exuberantly prominent.
Lead tin yellow (plus white) was used for the lighter values with touches of crimson for the shadow side. The remaining colors used in the composition were limited to very muted greens, greenish golds, and touches of blue in the tapestry to the left.
Great job as ever! Like your color choices….
Sumptuous and lush, as always – just lovely!