‘I use the knowledge of how colour works on my original hand -painted images and also use it on the computer. Knowledge of complimentaries enhances the emotional and visual impact of her work. When she paints on - screen or canvas a sun in the sky and wants the yellowish white sun to glow, she picks a purplish white colour its complementary and sprays it around the sun. She uses complimentaries and admixtures of them all the time in her works on and off screen.

'When I paint in acrylics or oils, or draw with pastels I only use six colours and the ad-mixture of them,' she explains. 'I never use black as I can get any dark colour by adding its complimentary to it. For example to darken a red I add green: to darken a yellow I add purple, and to darken an orange I add blue. I have two yellows on my palette, two reds, two blues and white.

Cadmium yellow and lemon yellow (one hotter nearer to orange and one cooler nearer to blue/green), cadmium red and alizarin crimson. ultamarine blue, cobalt ,and, or ceruleun blue. I know that the shadows are the complimentary of the illuminating light which helps me work out the shadow colours', she adds. A yellowish bright light will have a purple-ish shadow, whilst a more orangy light will have a blue-ish shadow.'

Myrna Shoa describes how she arrives at her evocative images " When I experience something I see an image a shape. I quickly draw it capturing the mood or emotion in the lines and tones.’ She then uses the power of composition to work out the best way to convey what she wants. "If I want to suggest movement I make the main parts of the compositions diagonal held together by horizontals,’ she explains. It is her colour and composition playing with scale that gives the work a power and tension.

article for The Artist & Illustrators Magazine

Myrna's video about her work