Tip of the Month - October 2003
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If a complex subject requires a limited palette, then it would be reasonable to say that a simple subject could be created with a complex palette. SUMMER BEAUTIES is simple in terms of quantity of things or objects or forms. The idea was to have two red flowers sitting in a bed of green foliage. That does not appear to be complicated. The complexity could be in the use of colors. Recently, I made 12 color charts, one for each of the 12 colors on my wheel.
I held some of these charts in front of the flowers to help with the color decisions. These charts show the color that I saw in the flowers and ground.
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I started the work with an overall wash of yellows. The second wash of quinacridone gold was applied to the negative space of the floral shape. It is not unusual for me to start a floral this way. The challenge would be to create beautiful and lively reds to cover a large area of the paper. Here are some of the REDS that I used in the wet-in-wet and glazing techniques: Vermilion, Quinacridone coral, Cadmium Red, Permanent Rose, Alizarin Crimson, Quinacridone Violet, Magenta, and Winsor Violet. |
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The second challenge would be to incorporate the flowers and the ground in a visual and complementary way with color. The flowers are RED: the ground is GREEN.
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The greens had a yellow underwash as did the flowers. They also had REDS mixed into them, the same REDS as were contained in the flowers.
The shade in the flowers had the GREEN of the foliage added into it.
When using a large selection of colors, choose one or two colors to mix into all the other colors that you will use to create the work.
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