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Saturday, March 29, 2014

Jamon Iberico

Cutting ham, watercolor 28 x 38 cm
One of my pleasures in Spain was tasting freshly sliced ham.
The challenge here was to simplify a very busy scene with many colors, objects and light sources. The obvious way to go was to use just a few colors. In this case:  ultramarine blue, yellow ocher, quinacridone red and burned sienna. I ignored the actual background and also tried to use only four or five values. A preliminary charcoal sketch helped me figure these out. I like the contrasts that this produced.

10 comments:

Rita Vaselli said...

Dear Blaga, perfect portrait, nice gesture and synthesis shapes and colors very effective! I wonder how the delicatessen seller would be proud of such a beautiful portrait!
Study value is time well used!!!Have nice springtime week end!

Blaga said...

Thank you, Rita! I still need much more practice drawing people and portraits, but I find that I enjoy organic shapes (people, animals and flowers) much more than man-made ones (buildings, streets and cars)

Polly Birchall said...

This works really very well and you are drawn to what he is doing. Love the colours you have chosen and the sketch too.

Judy said...

Wow, this is a wonderful painting, Blaga! I love the concentrated look on his face, it draws the attention to the ham. The value sketch was a great idea. I am getting hungry...

Tito said...

Great work, Blaga. A perfect execution of a very difficult subject. Ciao!!

Jane said...

Fabulous Blaga, really well done. You caught such an intense look of concentration on his face , really great !

Sonia Aguiar said...

Muy bien lograda tu acuarela. Te felicito!
Feliz comienzo de semana.

Merce Ares said...

Hola Blaga: Magnifica acuarela, los colores intensos llama la atención y la expresión del Señor muy lograda,. Brava!!!Un abrazo

Blaga said...

Thank you, Polly, Judy, Tito, Jane, Sonia and Mercedes! I was trying to make his pose convey concentration on what he was doing, and am very glad that I succeeded.

Sadami said...

Hi, Blaga, I like this work very much! Well-organised and contrast in colours are vivid. His face expression is very good. Although my style is different from yours, "just say what you want to tell most," is my tips = omit all others. My values are quite simple.
Go, go, Blaga!
Cheers, Sadami