7 KEYS TO USING COLOR 2015

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1 TIPS FOR CREATING DYNAMIC COMPOSITION AND COLOR HAVE YOU GOTTEN FRUSTRATED BY COLOR THEORY? THE EASIEST WAY TO DISCOVER COLOR IS THROUGH PAINTING. Fields, Last Glow, oil, 4 x 6 And learning that way has the added benefit of being easier to remember since most of us in the arts are kinesthetic and visual learners. I ve made a list below of 7 key points for learning to use color effectively in your paintings. Be sure to try them out and they ll make even more sense.

2 #1 Start with great paint. Buy the best you can afford. You ll get better results quicker and more easily. Once you get used to a color that s made by a certain brand, keep buying it in that brand. There s a big difference from brand to brand. #2 Use a limited palette with a warm and a cool version of each primary. Fewer tubes of paint are easier to control when you re starting out. It ll also be easier to keep your color schemes harmonious when you re mixing your colors from these primaries. Ultramarine Blue Phthalo Blue Napthol Red (Cad. Red) Napthol Crimson (Alizarin Crimson)

3 Yellow Ochre Indian Yellow Titanium White 7 KEYS TO USING COLOR 2015 #3 Understand the Four Aspects of Color: hue, value, intensity and temperature. Hue the color s position on the spectrum, the wavelength of the light, (the color name) Value the lightness or darkness of a color Intensity the brightness or dullness of a color Temperature the apparent warmth or coolness of a color #4 Create color harmony (the pleasing relationship of hues) by picking a definite color scheme and mixing your colors before beginning to paint. By using a color scheme, you re selecting hue intentionally and being sensitive to how they interact with each other. And if you mix ahead, you ll know how the colors are going to interact with each other. Once you re very confident with color you can try mixing as you go, but even then, you should have a plan, aka your color scheme. Here are a few types of color schemes: Analogous Complementary Split-complementary Triadic

4 At it s simplest, a color scheme could be picking one key, dominant color, and choosing the others in relationship to it. #5 Use strong contrast in value to define form and depth. Mix three variations in value of each color. Make sure that there is a significant difference between them so that the illusion of depth will be created. If you re having trouble seeing the true value of the color you re observing, try snapping a quick photo and converting it to greyscale.

5 Three different values. #6 If you want a strong sense of light use optical, not local color. Optical color is closer to the way our eyes work and is based on how the color of light interacts with the physical color of the object. In general, use warm color for where light is striking and cool colors for the shadows. Don t lighten colors with white or darken them with black! Lighten your colors with an equally intense lighter hue. Darken your colors with an equally intense darker hue. Doing this will keep your colors from becoming muddy. Note that like all rules there are exceptions to this. Adding a small amount of white to dye colors like pthalo blue will make them more intense. #7 The Secret Sauce: Don t forget the neutral colors. They make the intense colors sing. In other words, don t forget to use contrast in intensity as well as the others.

6 Clear Winter Evening, oil, 4 x 6