Night Scenes by April Rimpo

Nighttime Stroll 30" X 24" Fluid Acrylic
by April M Rimpo

I've started a series of night scenes and wanted to share not only the paintings but a little bit about the pigments I used to accomplish these.

Nighttime Stroll

Fluid Acrylic

30" X 24" *

Quiet Times 11" X 14" Watercolor by April  Rimpo

Quiet Times

Watercolor

11" X 14" *

I often find it is best to experiment with color before starting a painting where I want something different.  In this case, the colors that work best for nighttime scenes are still luminous and not what artists call muddy.  Muddy colors are dull and lifeless.

In the fluid acrylic painting, Nighttime Stroll, I started with pale pastel color in the underpainting that I know would work well for the pale blossoms on the trees and also lend a glow to the rest of the surroundings.  The dark sky was worked second to get an idea of the value range from the lightest areas by the street lights to the darkest areas of the sky. At the very end I wet the entire surface and applied one final coat of the grayed blend of blue I was using in the sky over the entire surface (except by tree near the light) to add continuity and to shroud it all in night. The blend was primarily Indigo with touches of Permanent Alizarin Red, and Yellow Ochre to gray it.  These three colors have recently found there way into several of my fluid acrylic paintings, a new favorite triad of color for me.

Quite Time is watercolor and required a different set of pigments. This time a different triad of Daniel Smith Indanthrone Blue, Permanent Orange, and Hansa Yellow Medium. These were a new combination for me that I found through some research in a blog by Jane Blundell (https://janeblundellart.blogspot.com/search?q=mixing), where she presents complements that make a good "black" and perfect neutral blends.  I chose this particular triad also because it supports not only the dark sky but also a great set of greens that I knew I needed for the foreground. I love how three pigments can be used to create such a wide variety of colors.

I added a fourth color for the light sky areas (Daniel Smith Magnesium Blue). How I decided to use this particular color is a story for another blog post. 

* Both paintings will be varnished and framed. 

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