Paris Rain

I recently had a request to do a black and white painting of Paris or France for one of my collectors. I had never painted in black and white before, so I decided to do a “test run” before attempting her commission.

In fact, I don’teven use the color “black” from a tube on my palette at all … I mix my darker colors in harmony with each painting to achieve a black-like effect. This way, I don’t get just a “dead color” from a tube, but “living” color that compliments each painting’s color scheme.

So, I mixed up a pile of my “black” and just added white gesso to the edges of this pile as I went along to create the different values needed for the piece. I discovered that extreme monochromatic paintings are more difficult than I first imagined! It was a very fun project, however, and I learned a lot! I am now ready to take on the real deal!