color harmony Archives – Celebrating Color

Why Are Color Relationships Mercurial?

March 29, 2018 By Carol McIntyre

How often do you think about color relationships? Even though we painters deal with them every time we apply paint, we may not consciously think about how the colors will relate to each other while painting. Why are color relationships important? Have you ever mixed a perfect color, then gone to apply it only to discover that it didn’t work?

For me, even after 25+ years of painting, this frustration of believing I have mixed the correct color and it not working, still happens. This is because colors are volatile — they are shifty. In other words, a swatch of color is immediately impacted by the color surrounding it. We pick up a mixture from a palette that is essentially isolated. This mix is not surrounded by the same colors as on our painting. However, we believe it will look great on our painting. Soon we discover that is either looks good or it doesn’t.

To demonstrate how colors are impacted, I have painted a gradated value scale of slightly de-saturated blues and left two clean unpainted canvas strips in the middle. Notice the contrast difference from top to bottom between the unpainted and the painted areas. In this example, the value changes of the blue impact the color of the unpainted strips. Do you see how the white of the canvas seems brighter and lighter at the top, and then darker and duller at the bottom? (Click any of the images for a larger view.)

In the next example, I digitally added two different oranges – bright and dull – for comparison. Even though these oranges are not painted in, you can still see the variation of color relationships between the color complements of orange and blue. In the left orange strip, notice how much brighter it is at the top versus at the bottom. [Read more…]

How Do You Mix Dull Natural-looking Greens?

January 28, 2018 By Carol McIntyre

You are standing out on location with a luscious stand of trees in front of you and you ask, “How do I mix these dull natural-looking greens?” What are your first thoughts? Do you know which yellow and blue to choose? Or do you want to use a tube green?

A couple of color mixing choices are:

Mixing a tube green, such as viridian or sap green with its complement.
Mixing a variety of dull natural-looking greens with your yellows and blues.

In the on-going debate—to use tube greens versus mixing with yellows and blues—I hail from the latter school of thought.

How to Mix Dull Natural-Looking Greens:

As a review from previous blogs, I am a champion of using a Balanced Palette™. This palette is made up of six purposefully chosen primary colors as displayed below. These six paints make it possible to mix almost any color you want. Click Why is Color Bias Key to Mixing Color? to learn more.

When you look at this Balanced Palette color wheel, you can see the obvious leanings of each primary. In other words, the yellows include a green-yellow and an orange-yellow, the reds include an orange-red and a violet-red and the blues include a violet-blue and a green-blue. None of them are pure primary colors. [By the way, you can mix a more pure primary just by mixing the two primaries of of a hue family on your working palette. For example, mix the orange-red with the violet-red, and a lovely red emerges. No additional tubes of red are necessary.]

Because of these particular yellows and blues, it is easy to mix dull natural-looking greens. When an orange-yellow (#1) is mixed with a violet-blue (#4), there is a little bit of red in each of these, and red is the complement of green.

When a yellow and a blue carry a pair of complementary colors within them, the resulting green is dulled or de-saturated. Below is an example of such a mixture using cadmuim yellow and ultramarine blue. I adjusted the ratios of yellow and blue to create a variety. Are they not dull natural-looking greens?

I applied a full range of these greens in both of these paintings. Can you guess which yellow and blue I used for the bright spring like greens in the painting below?

Next, you need to determine if you own an orange-yellow and a violet-blue that will achieve the greens you want. There are many choices in every medium. Experiment to find out which you prefer. You can also create a chart of your paints, as described in my post How to be Intimate with Your Colors &Why.

“Oh to be Joyful Campground,” 14×11 oil, sold

In my humble opinion, I believe these greens are more interesting for the viewer and more fun for the painter. Which yellows and blues will you explore?

If you found this blog post helpful, please share it.

Gratefully and colorfully yours,

Carol

How Do You Paint Moonlight? 7 Night Painting Tips

August 8, 2013 By Carol McIntyre

Where does your imagination go when you look up at the moon, particularly a full moon? It is magical, yet not reachable. When you were a kid (or even now), did you look up at the moon and dream? Were you awestruck?

Moonlight has attracted and fascinated artists of all genres since the beginning of time. It is the opposite of daylight which reveals all and can be chaotic. Whereas the night is peaceful and soothing, yet holds the unknown and a world of uncertainty.

Have you ever attempted to paint the haunting yet compelling moon?

It’s not a matter of talent – you’ve painted wonderful paintings of other subjects. But now, you go back to the well to paint a night scene and you are not satisfied with the results.
This happens to the best of us. Let me explain to you how I have tackled the challenging subject of moonlight. There are some interesting color tips that may surprise you.

[Read more…]

What Are the 3 Biggest Mistakes Artists Make?

June 11, 2013 By Carol McIntyre

In the real estate business, they say that there are three things that matter for a piece of property: location, location, location.

The Blue Beyond – oil

All of us have heard this accurate cliche. If you want the most value for your property, its location remains the key factor.

What does this have to do with art? Is art a piece of property? Should we creators care where it is located? Perhaps. Bare with me as I use this real estate quote to segue into an important aspect of the painting process. [Read more…]