It's All in the Colors...

Mexican artist, Rodolfo Escalera was a huge advocate of using color in his oil paintings. The rainbow was his palette... and how he indulged himself in them! His approach was a lifelike approach that lent itself beautifully to his realism technique. "The world around us is full of color" he used to say, "so why not paint life the way it is?"

A little known fact about his artwork was that he never used the color black. His position on the color black was that it was lifeless and dead, therefore he mixed colors and created what appeared to be black but took on an air of life, especially in different light settings. Escalera never used any of his oil paints directly out of the tube. He would place a small amount on his palette and then proceed to mix with other colors until he arrived at his desired hue. It truly was a large part of his "labor of love".

The adjoining image is of an original oil painting named "Desert Splendor" (Esplendor en el Desierto)... notice the very dark areas of the piece? You guessed it... not a drop of the color black but merely a masterfully blended series of colors. To see more images of this master painters work visit us at http://escaleraart.com/ and go to our gallery where we have over 60 pieces of breathtaking work.

...A Bit of a Challenge...

Prolific Mexican artist Rodolfo Escalera never ran from a challenge. In fact, the greater the challenge the more interesting he found the project. The adjoining image of the momma Leopard with her cub, named "Reflections", came to him as a challenge from his beloved wife Susana. Upon accepting her challenge he "upped the anty" by challenging himself to capture the image perfectly in the "reflection" of the water. Driven by his passion for realism he beautifully captured the scene using 00 paintbrushes and oil on canvas.

To see more wildlife images visit http://escaleraart.com/ and check out our gallery. Once there read a bit about Rodolfo Escalera and his family's mission.