Purple Pond

Diane Mannion, PURPLE POND, 10x8"oil

      I don't think this pond, which was located on a farm near Arcadia, had a name.  Was just a puddle which probably dries up when the Florida rainy season's over.  A baby alligator swam in between the lily pads watching me while I wondered where the mother was.   I kept well back from the water's edge and painted fast.  This was completed later in the safety of my studio.  

      Named the pond Purple because I painted with a purple and yellow palette.  Have been reading "The Yin/Yang of Painting" by Hongnian Zhang and Lois Woolley.  (Recommended by Carol Marine). Thought I knew just about everything there was to know about mixing paints but this book is an eye-opener.  I won't get into all of it here but it's worth researching on your own.  The book's available on Amazon.  

      It's all about opposites.  Yin and yang.  There are three palettes made up of the three opposite colors plus black (black!) and white.  The red/green palette.  Purple/yellow.  And blue/orange.  Opposite colors vibrate when next to each other and also mute each other when mixed.  

     The colors in the painting above were all mixed with yellow and purple, black and white.  A warm, a true, and a cool is used for both colors.  Amazing how the colors seemed natural... black and yellow make wonderful greens.  And black and white (like the Zorn palette) make an almost blue.  But boy, did I ever miss my ultramarine

      He's a photo of the baby gator!