Plum Perfect
(24" x 18", oil on canvas)

I work with a standard palette, or choice of colours, for most of my paintings. I may substitute one yellow for another, or add an umber, but rarely do I stray from my old standbys. This painting is an exception, where to capture the colour of the bowl I had to use a very powerful blue hue that I had tucked away at the back of a drawer. The beauty of this colour, called Windsor Blue (Green Shade), is also its downfall, because its incredible tinting power can quite easily contaminate all the other colours. I think I kept it under control here allowing it to flow from the bowl just a little into the shadow of the yellow plums and the folds of the cloth. The colour belongs to the composition without overpowering the neighbouring colours.

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