Marlene Dumas is proof of the importance of color mixing to contemporary painters. Her work straddles the boundary between traditional painting and conceptual art, and she is adept at deploying old techniques for new purposes.
In the same way that Edward Hopper's work is concerned with communicating alienation, Dumas actively embraces ambiguity and irresolution, and as we saw with Hopper, her palette and color mixing is a key tool in achieving her objectives.
Here we look in detail at 'In The Beginning' - a work from 1999. Deceptively simple, this large scale work (270cm x 145cm) reveals a depth of beauty and sophistication that deserves and rewards close inspection.
From a small palette of: cadmium orange, alizarin crimson, ultramarine blue, viridian green and yellow ocher (plus white) I recreate the painting as a small color study in oils on an acrylic ground (the latter for speed) using the two-color mixing method I use in my own work and in teaching my students. I also emphasise how important taking paint off is in painting, as well as applying it.
Marlene Dumas is a prolific artist and makes use of a wide variety of palettes, so we will be looking at at least one more work of hers so that we can steal more from this great artist!
I hope you enjoy this exploration, and please remember to subscribe, like and comment - I'm always interested in hearing what you think of my videos and happy to answer any questions.