The subtle power of temperature in your art…

Welcome back to the Sunday Bloom!

I’m in the studio today, and I want to talk about something a little trickier in artmaking: temperature.

 We talk a lot about contrast – light vs. dark, rough vs. smooth, bold vs. quiet. But there’s another kind of contrast that’s all about temperature: warm vs. cool.

In the painting I’m working on now, I’ve been playing with this. Temperature doesn’t jump out at you like value contrast does — your eye will always notice light vs. dark first.

But when you put warm and cool colors side by side within the same value range, something starts to happen. It almost vibrates. The surface comes alive in a more layered, quiet way.

It’s a subtle tool, but once you start to notice it (and use it), it really changes how you paint.

Let me know in the comments… how do you think about temperature in your own work?

And to all the moms out there, Happy Mother’s Day! If making art is what you love, I hope you get some time to do just that today.

Thanks for being here, and I hope you get to make some art — in the studio, outside, or wherever you find yourself.

Talk soon, 

~ Nicholas

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