Description
Colour Frame – a white middle between coloured edges
Modern painting borders a wide white and pale grey middle with colour pushed out to the edges and into the corners: painting on canvas using colour as a margin rather than as a subject.
Technique and texture
The white middle is laid in several thin coats, scraped back in places so the colour beneath shows through. The blocks at the edges are the opposite — set down in one sweep, flat and hard-edged. The strokes are not aligned to the edge of the canvas; in places they overlap and in others they leave a narrow gap of ground.
The motif
A pale pink band runs down the left edge with a dark green-black block beneath it. Upper left holds a cluster of yellow and blue-grey strokes with a narrow orange strip beside it. Upper right stands an emerald field, a yellow square below it and a short orange passage. The foot is closed by a blue band and, beneath that, a wide orange strip across the full width.
Setting and placement
A bright middle means the picture will not weigh a room down while the coloured edges still give it energy — an unusual combination and the reason to choose it. It hangs happily among other work because the middle is quiet.
- Technique: hand-painted painting on canvas, thin scraped-back white middle, single-sweep flat edge blocks, deliberately unaligned strokes
- Palette: white, pale grey, orange, yellow, emerald, blue, pink
- Ideal for: living rooms, offices, hallways
- Character: bright, bordered, energetic
Choose the size that suits your wall.
