Working without LED...Gurrrr!

Sunday I spent a long day painting at Crossroads. The gallery has good lighting but not LED, the light I paint under. I was concerned too. My colours are very clean even when I use a tonal approach; what you would expect of painting in the sun or bright daylight as in plein air.....my kind of light. I knew it could be a problem going in, but I agreed with the designer guy, the next move on the painting needed to be at the gallery.

Thanks to Photoshop, my offsite studio might have worked, but it was really more like this lower photo...not enough!

To make matters worse, I was using a dark wood palette from my old Julian plein air setup...at times I couldn't see the colours, especially the dark ones.....this was the hand I was dealt so I went ahead.

My painting is really high key - light and bright - close up, my camera did a great job capturing a 60x96 section. My resolution is not too good but it showed something I couldn't see while painting. Seeing it only at a far distance, looking at all (4) canvases as a unit, I could see some of it but not as clearly as in my photo...my vermillion pinks where off...NUTS!

The fresh lower section of salmon is really off from the original top vermillion pink painted under LED in my studio. Its cleaner and my new passage is dirty as if it were in a bad case of LA smog....duh! Basically the effects of working under different lighting.

My right side panels shown on an angle have no LA smog!! While painting, I knew my colours didn't feel right, but I couldn't see it as graphically as my photo here. Especially when you compare it to the marked up photo above.

In my distance shot you can barely see it and under this light almost not noticeable at first glance.  But, if this painting were in daylight it would be glaring.

Live and learn and keep on trucking......it's a glitch but not the end of the world. My main job Sunday was tying all (4) panels together; which I did.....mission accomplished!

This morning I'll transfer the painting back to my studio and get rid of the LA smog by finishing it under LED lighting. 

I also need it to dry because it needs to be varnished and framed so it can be shown later this month....

Yes! Varnished and framed! The designer won't let me show it otherwise. I agree, its a finishing touch that will make a difference.  Varnish perhaps but how do you frame a 5'x16' painting? Simple, use the divide and conquer method. I'll frame it as a single painting using a floater frame cut in sections lining up with each panel. The designer has done it before and it works too. Easy to transport, go up elevators, all the things the designer guy would think about....nice having the old fart around although he can get cranky.




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