For natural impressionists it’s the light, for post-impressionist it’s the color for contemporary transcendent impressionists it’s the soul. And that is where you find your golden color. It is what speaks to you at that moment. I select my color from the inside out. It’s the driver of the design, for the light, and the interplay of all the other colors. It’s the inner mood of the painting.

The golden ratio is a foundational compositional guide, while your golden color helps to establish your aesthetic consistently. For me, this color corresponds to the hope that is within me. What does your golden color correspond to?

As a wireframe become the foundational structure, your golden color is the foundation color where all the other colors play off one another. Your golden color is your base color it sets the mood similar to in music there is a particular key that is played throughout.

Remember all throughout the process you’re playing one color against another you need to step back and look at the stage where you are you may take another direction or you may not.
When looking at an impressionist painting up close it looks abstract, at the middle range it looks abstracted, and at the distance range, it looks more representational. Impressionists do not hide the way they construct their paintings with layers of paint and brushwork.

Take notice of how the base color - your golden color – leads to the next color. How it changes next to the different colors thus creating new combinations, and how it changes in relation to how the paint is applied. I may apply paint either heavy with medium, as a light wash, or straight out of the tube. Post impressionists intentionally place their paint expressionistically which gives another dimension to the work. Yet, all the under colors, the intermediate colors, and the over colors work together. All these various layers of colors lead one back to the golden color.

My process has initial drawings that are done in pastel or charcoal initially, then the underdrawing is done which is the wireframe for structure, and then I apply color glazes or color washes then thin, then thicker paint with a variety of textures. I work with tints, tones, and shades combining them with simultaneous contrasting with my own unique brush choreography. What is your unique brush choreography?