Blues

I plan: paint abstract. 
My brush says: blue water, sky. 
Not very abstract.

(That's a haiku.)

I'm trying to use color theory: warm and cool, recede and come forward. Somehow I'm still too literal, thus blue water and blue sky. Can I break this tradition? But is has been interesting figuring out the blues: cobalt, cerulean, ultramarine. Maybe I'll get bold and try out prussian. 

And it's always a delight to add a touch of orange. Orange is a nice color.

Big Shoulders, Big Water: this is inspired by the 5k swim held in Chicago each September. The event is called Big Shoulders. Notice the tiny little orange swim buoy on the upper right?

I managed to get some pink and orange into this painting.

The tomato-shape on the left is a swim buoy. There are some tiny swimmers to its left and the Madison shoreline in the background. This painting is inspired by the Madison Open Water Swim held in August in Lake Monona.

A tiny swimmer on the lower left enjoys this ice blue and quinachridone coral lake. Perhaps I can consider that abstract for a Wisconsin lake.

 See more at LorraineOrtner-Blake.com.