I love colour...

... and I love how colours affect eachother. I hadn't painted for a long time before I started work on The Eildons (see I miss my hills blog 28 Jan 2012). The palette knife, a tool new to me, can deliver the medium to the canvas in so many ways. I had to get to know the physicality of acrylic paint: smear it on thickly like peanut butter; texturise wet paint with the sharp edge of the knife; spread wet layers one over the other; or learn patience and work on top of dry paint. An element of the work that I particularly enjoyed was reacquainting myself with the notion of colour and the astonishing effect one colour can have on another. Lay a lime green over a mossy green and see the green-ness intensify; cut some sharp orange through a deep blue to heighten the energy.
I had the perfect opportunity to investigate colour further when I was commissioned to paint a large piece for a client who definitely didn't want a landscape. The client's taste is very minimal, in fact the room where the painting now hangs is almost gallery-like in its simplicity.
I started on a 50" wide canvas with broad vertical stripes. I enjoyed generously buttering the canvas: the contrast between the easy movements used in introducing the colour and the care I had to take with the edge of the knife to create a neat edge between each block was very satisfying. The character of each stripe began to develop as tones and shades of the same colour were laid over one another: wet on wet created a creamy mix; wet over dry, a rougher more stark effect. Sky over cerulean beneath midnight; wet grass under moss through pea soup; lipstick on top of burning embers.
To make the piece really sing I created thin bands between some of the stripes, see the custard yellow beside stormy blue (stripes 1 and 2). The grey of stripe 12 was originally red, it didn't work. Unfinished paintings sit at the end of my bed, they nag, question and whine at me like a needy child until I can find an answer. In this case the pillar box became battleship leaving a sliver of its energising hue alongside the green next door. 
I have seen Stripes several times since its completion, looking at the finished piece brings something new each time, whether it's the subtleties within each strip or the contrast between them. Working on Stripes allowed me to develop my understanding of how colour works, for this opportunity I am grateful.