Tip of the month – June, 2006

The use of tints, tones, and shades can lead to a more subtle color application in your paintings. The use of tints, tones, and shades can show the movement of a single hue through the painting giving an overall unity to the work.

In Summer Beauties, the red hue can be found over the entire surface of the painting. The red hue can be seen in full intensity in the flower as well as shade on the flowers’ edges. Tones and shades can be found in the negative space.

Blue is the hue that is found throughout Luminous Morning. It can be seen as a pure color as well as a tint, tone, and shade. The use of a single hue in its many disguises gives unity to the painting.

Tints appear to have white in them. Tints can be created by diluting a pure color and allowing the white of the paper to shine through as light.

Tints can be created by mixing a little of the pure color with white watercolor or white gouache.

These tints are not transparent. They can be used in very small shapes or as a spatter of light over a dark color.

Tones are muted or grayed colors. They appear as light-middle and middle value colors.

Tones can be made by mixing a pair of complementary colors. One of the pair should dominate the mix. Permanent Rose and Winsor Green are the colors used in these mixes.

Tones can also be made by mixing a gray with the chosen hue.

Tones can be described as colored grays.

Shades are dark in value. They, too, appear muted. These two shades were made by using Cadmium Orange and Ultramarine Blue, the same two colors that were used in the tints’ visual.

Shades can be made by mixing a pair of complementary colors at full strength. Both of these shades were made by mixing Permanent Rose and Winsor Green.

PEAR ENCORE

EVENING BY THE MARSH

Both of these paintings use tints, tones, and shades.

By examining the color wheel, the position of the tints, tones, and shades can be seen in relation to the chromatic colors.

COLOR STAR

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