09 February, 2007

Colorist American Landscapes

Light in Branches, 21" x 13"
Original Pastel
Casey Klahn
$2,000.00
Blue is a color that one can dive into; get lost in. How do you get a "cold" color to glow?
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10 comments:

Robyn Sinclair said...

Looks like it's glowing to me! I love this series of landscapes, Casey. Colour like this always excites me - but I'm scared of it. I buy it, make little colour swatches and then line up the tubes or pastels or pencils neatly in my cupboard and do far too little with them.
I read in Simon Schama's Power of Art that Van Gogh, in a manic spell - swallowed tubes of chrome yellow, cobalt and carmine and washed them down with turpentine before the nurses got to him. I can almost understand that.

February 10, 2007 at 10:13 AM
Casey Klahn said...

Well, on the hand, it didn't kill him...
But, don't try that at home, folks!
I was under the impression that I didn't know much about color when I went pro about 7 or 8 years ago. But, I kind of felt that there might be some innate talent for color in me, so I dove in head first with pastels. I looked as hard as possible at Wolf Kahn's oil paintings, and tried to internalize them.
Then, for practice, I would analyze his color composition. Say he used orange, violet and green. I would take that triad, turn it one space on the color wheel, and do my own linear composition, using this color composition and produce something. Then, after a few years, the skill with pastels came along.
Anyway, that's my brief on how to do colors. Be intuitive. Try lots of things. Fail a lot. It is O.K.

February 10, 2007 at 10:47 AM
Anonymous said...

WOW!!!! BEAUTIFUL WORK CASEY! OUTSTANDING! I love your works! You should show more of them!GREAT JOB!

February 10, 2007 at 4:11 PM
Philip said...

I don't agree that blue is a cold colour always.It very much depends on the shade of blue. Blue is my favourite colour and I think it reflects calm and imagination. Everybody loves a clear blue sky and because it indicates warmth. I have done very many blue paintings and really have to force myself to use other colours! I could paint endlessly in blue. I like your latest piece.

February 11, 2007 at 3:54 AM
Casey Klahn said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
February 11, 2007 at 5:39 AM
Casey Klahn said...

That's right, and temperature in color is something that I actually rather dislike. Many yellows can be cooler than some blues.
When I was coming up, I was taught hue, value and intensity. I behave as though intensity trumps temperature.
BTW, I favor red, because I "like" both sides of red - the yellow and the blue. The yellow side (or green, if you will) of blue disquiets me. I find it useful, but I don't favor it.
French ultramarine, however, may be my favorite, uh... I will say my favorite of a 12 color "wheel".
I was recently challenged by an artist's reference to a 2 color theory. He means red and blue. I suppose that may be a useful tool in realist painting; considering some of the weaknesses in yellow pigments.
Kind of reminds me of ski waxes. The simple man only waxes with two "colors" of wax.
Thanks for getting into colors - I love it!

February 11, 2007 at 5:42 AM
vivien said...

what lovely work, I've bookmarked your blog to come back to :)

a fellow colourist :)

February 11, 2007 at 6:37 AM
Philip said...

I use French Ultramarine a lot (in oil that is) and it is one of my favourite colours. I have never studied colour theory so it is all instinct with me. Our approaches are really quite different even if we end up in the same place (sometimes!).

February 11, 2007 at 9:08 AM
Casey Klahn said...

Thanks Vivian and Philip.

February 11, 2007 at 12:38 PM
colorspeaker said...

Hello Casey,it's julianne here... This particular pastel is so unique and mesmerizing..wow. I really like your abstract pastels...Oh, on another subject-I have a of couple questions about your blog, I really like the it's done. Thanks for your commentary-I will write soon...keep up those pastels!

March 23, 2007 at 12:06 AM

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