USING #5 GREYWOW, was this a fun painting to c

PAARDNERS – (that’s Flemish for Belgian horses)

Wow was this a fun painting to create!  It use the power of harmonies (analogous colors) and complimentary colors.  I really learned a lot about using #5 grey also.  When you are tinting (lightening) darker colors such as the blue in the grain bins, #5 reduces the value without changing the color.   For this painting, I put a really dark blue under-painting in a horizontal band at the fence height.  I mixed in # 5 grey then to give simple shape and shading to the grain bins.  The under-painting was so dark,  I used a marker to draw the horses out so I could see it.  That worked great except in the foreground of the front.  Originally I sketched a fence coming forward, which I decided I didn’t need.  It took 3 layers of color to cover it up. Twas a bummer as  I liked  the fence and shadow area better prior to that.  The good thing is that did not take away from the Belgian horses.  On the horses I went wild stretching the palette on their coloring.  At one point their got to be an eery unnatural orange color on the far right horse. Yet when I painted the highlights over it it gave the piece a most amazing zing.    Full of fun surprises, I also used the # 5 grey in the hoofs  and grass and it seemed powerful.