A Little color study for you today

And by little, I do mean little... at least for me.

I try to do at least one color study per week, it's my way of keeping my drawing skills sharp.

99.999% of my work outside the classroom setting is devoted to developing class curriculum. This means that I spend a ton of time working below my skill level, out of my style, or using a commercial image. I love teaching but it definitely takes a toll on my creative spirit.

Small studies are yoga for the brain

At only 3 inches square, I can't make the "I don't have time for that" excuse. So even if an image takes me several hours over many days to complete, it's still a fraction of the time a large scale image would take.

The constraint of working small also forces me to focus on only the most important details. Maybe I work on accurately capturing shape or spacing. Sometimes I celebrate color. I try not to much time planning; not planning something to death is a lesson in itself. 

Few of my Threebys are worthy of public viewing- they're exercises, not the main event. You can find them scattered around my studio, in the bottoms of drawers, wedged in-between pots of gesso and GAC. Most hit the circular file after spending a few weeks bouncing around my desktop.

Thanks to Linda Beeson for the Lotus photo!