Rural images : studies of color and light

The purpose of this Creative Project was to examine several aspects of color and to apply the results to a series of watercolor and oil paintings of rural subject matter. The process involved several steps: literature research, a series of photographs, and pigment color analysis. To begin with, landscape painters from the seventeenth century to the present were researched for their use of color in portraying the illusion of light and form on a two dimensional surface. A series of photographs was taken over a one year period. These were used to record changes of color on objects due to seasonal and atmospheric differences. Finally, watercolor pigments were analyzed for the range of mixing possibilities they could create. The findings from these three steps were applied in a series of eleven paintings which portrayed the illusion of light and solid form through the use of color.