A first today

Today is the first time I think I've ever started painting on a black canvas. It's interesting! I seldom use black paint -- I like to mix dark colors by combining complementaries like red and green, orange and blue or purple and yellow.

Also I think black paint and white paint appear sort of "dead" and lifeless in a finished work. But I bought a tablet of black canvas sheets to experiment with some night scenes I've been wanting to paint for a long time. This is one of them: Cincinnatian's may recognize our "Elsinore Castle" at the base of Mt. Adams on Gilbert. I love to see it lit up at night and will have to research more about its name and how people used to play Hamlet on it when it was the gateway to Eden Park.

I often talk about how one hour can yield very different results for me day to day. I was having fun with this -- looking at the shapes and values and then placing them on that stark black canvas. It's got promise! Stay tuned for the finish, some time in the future.