World Class Experience

High Tea at the Brown Palace in Denver is a long honored tradition, especially during the holidays. I love the interiors painted by English Watercolorist John Yardley and his work inspired me to paint this scene. The tall cut glass lamps, antique furniture, white dishes, rich carpeting, and three tear desert trays were all interesting subjects. I wanted the three ladies to be the focal point so I placed them behind an empty table with dishes so they would be in the middle ground. I like painting juxtaposition in the foreground and the small white dishes and the large antique furniture created a nice size difference.

It was important that each of the five figures have their own personality so gestures were significant but facial features were not. I made sure that each person was doing something a little different and then explained their faces with only light and shadow. The cut glass lamps were casting light from different directions and lighting up the glass table tops so I added light to the shoulders of the lady in the blue dress thus adding to her importance. This breaks one of the "rules" because she is very close to the center of the composition and yet in this painting I think it works. Rules in painting are there to help you learn and give you perimeters so you don't get lost. After you have been painting for a while you realize sometimes more interesting compositions come from breaking the rules.

The chairs were painted with cadmium red, yellow ochre and venetian red and their gold trim is cadmium yellow and burnt sienna. The white dishes are unpainted white paper with cerulean blue shadows. The lamps are unpainted white paper with yellow ochre for the shades and cerulean blue for the shadows created by the cut glass. Yellow ochre combined with cadmium red was used for the skin tones on the figures and the carpeting is two different values of indigo. The blue dress is cerulean blue and French ultramarine blue and her hair is burnt sienna. If you are in Denver and have not experienced high tea at the Brown Palace Hotel you should try it for a world class adventure. Happy Painting! Dennis