MATINS | 18” X 60”
DESPITE HAVING NATURE AS HER MUSE, SHE COMBINES THE POWER OF INTUITION AS A SOURCE OF INSPIRATION, ALONG WITH CLASSICAL ART TRAINING. along with classical art training. She points to charts taped to the wall near her easel based on the Munsell Color Wheel. The system was devised over a century ago and specifies colours by three parameters: hue (such as red, green or blue), value (how light or dark), and chroma (colour purity or intensity). The payoff is that when working with a colour, it enables one to identify the precise complementary (opposite) and co-ordinating (neighbouring) tones.
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“I refer to the charts to add punch to a painting and make it harmonious. I want my colours to be refined, not loud or garish. No Day-Glo for me! “For instance, this painting I’m working on has a colour scheme of light blue-greens with very light peaches in the background. I can mix these nice beautiful grey tones so that they’re in harmony with peach because they’ve got red in them.” She leafs through a handsome-looking coffee-table book, The Landscapes, by Richard Schmid, an American artist
she cites as an influence. “He makes colour charts similar to Munsell, but using his particular palette of colours, to get the greys and see the different transitions between the colours. They’re very subtle.” She also refers to her charts when “I think about the change in value – what the greyscale’s going to do when I want to get enough contrast while keeping it subtle.” Such an academic approach suggests an extensive education. Indeed, she