Painting A Hall Chest Blue

In early Spring I was called upon to paint this cute little rustic hall chest.
Here you see it finished.A couple of years ago I painted this tall clock.





It was decided the hall chest was going to be less contrasty and less bright than the clock, so as not to be a blast of colour and interest when first coming into the place.
Here is how the top ended up...but first the piece went through several subtle transformations in tone.

I started off very light and white...too much. Too washed out.
.... the client was wanting something deeper, bluer....

There was also a moment when I introduced tiny bit off white, ivory colour in the highlighting, (see above)and that unfortunately moved it away from the coolness I was looking for...

See the difference?


Here is how it ended up (and the first image in this post, too)... and it was perfect.
These subtle differences in tone can be a huge deal in a very brightly lit, or very carefully colour-staged environment. it doesn't mean that there was anything "wrong" with the stages I went through with it. It means that when its right, its right, and its very important for someone like me to keep colours very clearly in my head. Something I enjoy doing, happily.