Todd Leninger - Paintings and Drawings

I will add more paintings soon.

My focus is upon the traditional “Greek Palette” in conjunction with Flemish/Dutch/Netherland techniques for optical effects and durability.  The Greek Palette uses only two colors, red and yellow along with black and white.  All purples, blues, and greens are derived from these four colors.  Most art historians dismiss the traditional Greek Palette, stating that cool colors cannot be derived from mixing reds and yellow.  This is not so.  The secret lies in the technique.The Renaissance was an attempt to revive the arts and philosophies of the ancient Greeks.  In looking at what remains have been found of greek sculpture, it is quite obvious that the Renaissance never surpassed or even achieved its goal.  While no Greek paintings have survived up to today, there were reported examples in the time of the Renaissance.

The soft purple/blue of the blanket in #9 is a good example.  The first two paintings were produced using all hand-ground pigments and limited palette.  I consider all of these paintings to be “works-in-progress” with the exception of the first painting of Catharine which is a simple Burnt Umber study that I feel can stand on it’s own.  Interestingly enough, the painting of Catharine is the most recent work on this site and I am once again enthralled with allowing the gesso to be the lights.

Todd Leninger