Good hygiene
September 2002, 1600 x 2000, Corel Painter
This painting, like Life is Lush before it, has me applying impressionist brushwork to my color and composition style. This was due in large part to me reading a book on Cézanne--in particular, a passage in which Pissarro instructs Cézanne to paint with rows of short brushstrokes. I took that advice and twisted it to my own ends, learning a bit about color and brushstroke in the process.
One of the major and obvious differences between this piece and Life is Lush is the more vivid color. I'd let Life, and a couple of paintings before it, get really muddy. In this piece, I've been careful with transparency and blending paint on the canvas. I've also been quite diligent about using color without any grey in it, except in those spots that I really felt called for it. I collectively call these practices "good color hygiene", hence the title.