Sunday, March 1, 2009

Cactus

Cactus
12 x 9 soft pastels on Art Spectrum Colorfix
by Tom Willa
$75 matted
I enjoyed the Arizona desert around Sedona very much while attending a mentoring workshop with Michael Chelsey Johnson. I challenged myself to obtain a deeper understanding of color temperature while employing the relationship of values. The discussion about these aspects of painting helped me greatly to comprehend the importance to producing quality creations.
This is a studio creation where I made a concentrated effort to reinforce those concepts. It is a Friday night special after recovering from the journey home. It is designed from a photo I took outside the house where we stayed. I found the colors of the cactus vibrate with a combination of warm rich reds and yellows complimented by cooler green blues. The desert was filled with color temperature relationships that were breath taking.


1 comment:

Miki Willa said...

I really like this painting. The colors really evoke my memories of this place (Sedona). The cactus colors work so well, and the spikes look so real. Great painting.