Dont Touch the Edges

The first task in this entire project was to make a good composition. After much time spent fixing different positions for my pool ball and light source, I finally had my mind set on a composition that touched 3 sides. I was eager to get painting- this was my first oil painting i have ever done. Some things i had to focus on was mixing correct colors, color mapping, and getting my pool ball to look round. In the past, I have used acrylics and acrylics dry quicker than these oil paints. Also, something new I came across while mixing my colors is that I could make a black or dark navy blue by mixing ultramarine blue and crimson red. Normally, with acrylics, i would expect that to make purple; however, the oil paint colors are so pigmented by the minerals and chemicals that they made the really dark navy blue. Another aspect of this art was the color mapping. The first step to this was recognizing the different shades of colors and hues in the pool ball and its shadow. Then I had to transfer that to the drawing. A difficult decision to make was whether ii should do more geometrical shapes or smoother shapes. Frankly, i couldn't choose so i made shapes that had curvy edges and straight sides as well. The biggest challenge was making the pool ball look round. I met this challenge by adding the correct amount of white and yellows to my paint when doing the highlights. For example, I broke up the colors in the small circle with the 2 in it into dark greens and light yellows. My painting really works because the bright crimson red really pops behind all the dark blues and purples. During this project, I continues to learn how to simplify my work and i will bring that into my next  project because painting simple makes it easier to express what I'm trying to present. I learned from Zoe that using complementary colors makes the art work really pop and look vibrant. If i could redo my project, I would pick a different color paper because the navy blue ball and purple paper is kind of boring. The best part of my artwork is the variety of colors i was able to present on my pool ball because it makes my eye want to travel all around to see how light and dark the pool ball can get.