High Hopes

by Rose Ann Bernatovich

"High Hopes", Rose Ann Bernatovich, 16 x 20, Oil on Canvas Board

While strolling through Central Park in New York City one afternoon, I came across a balloon seller at work. His fistful of colorful balloons made me stop in my tracks as visions of the scene as a painting swirled in my head. The bold colors of the balloons versus the more subdued, blue-grey of his shirt and warm grey of the pants lit up all the creative parts of my brain. Then, there were the warm greens of the park versus the cool greens on the bench. Inspiration had struck like a thunderbolt.

The balloon seller was so preoccupied with pumping air into his balloons for the day's sales that he didn't notice me reaching for my camera. That's exactly what I wanted. I would rather capture a spontaneous image, rather than a posed one. 

The balloon seller finally noticed me, so I told him that I had taken some pictures that I'd like to use for making a painting. He vigorously nodded and grinned, saying, "OK with me.” Then, pointing to his balloons, he asked if I wanted to buy one. I was on my way to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, so I politely declined and moved on while wishing him good luck with his sales. 

Central Park has several gently sloping hills, and the bench was on an angle. When I got home, I tried straightening it with Photoshop, but ultimately I decided that I liked the angle better. It made the composition more interesting and pointed outward toward his day of roaming the park for sales with his balloons in tow. 

It took a larger palette than I usually work with, each balloon needed a light and dark color. I used phthalo blue with touches of ultramarine blue for the blue balloon, shirt, and sneakers. 

The phthalo colors are intense and very saturated, so I toned them down with transparent oxide red, which is a dark red that leans towards orange. It is also a strong tinting color, and it takes a strong color to tame the vibrant phthalo colors without sacrificing their beautiful, rich hues. 

The skin tones, pants, and the tool bag next to him on the bench have transparent oxide red with titanium white, ivory black, and touches of ultramarine or phthalo blue. This same combination was also used for the white areas of the bench and pathway at the balloon seller’s feet. 

The greens in the foliage and lawn were made with ivory black and cadmium yellow, both medium and light. I added hints of transparent oxide red to warm up a bit of the lawn by the red balloon. Phthalo green and ivory black were used for the greens on the bench, and the darks in the foliage. 

I used quinacridone rose for the pink balloon, and a mix of quinacridone rose and cadmium yellow medium for the orange balloon. Pyrrole red is the warmest red I have, but it's transparent. So, I added a touch of cadmium yellow light and white highlights to make the red hue more opaque and warm. Since the red balloon was the most prominent one in the bunch, I focused on drawing it out to create more depth. 

The balloons are reflective, so I added hints of color from neighboring balloons, like the bit of yellow in the pink balloon, a touch of blue in the red balloon, and the streak of red on the side of the orange balloon. I always like to carry colors through the painting to create color harmony. 

Here’s the palette: 

Phthalo blue (Rembrandt) 

Ultramarine blue (Michael Harding) 

Phthalo green (Rembrandt) 

Pyrrole Red (M Graham) 

Quinacridone Rose ((Rembrandt)) 

Transparent oxide red (Rembrandt) 

Cadmium yellow light (M Graham) 

Cadmium Yellow Medium (Michael Harding) 

Yellow Ochre (Rembrandt) 

Ivory Black (Rembrandt) 

Titanium White (Michael Harding) 

I like Rembrandt for Quinacridone Rose and Transparent Oxide Red because they are darker in value than most brands and are good, strong hues with good tinting qualities. 

This was a cheerful, optimistic painting and I enjoyed working on it. I hope this inspires you with your own paintings. 

All the best, 

Rose Ann