Wednesday, May 30, 2012

Advancing art class: 3 the color palette and sketch

Color palettes:

Modern artists often build a palette based on the three primaries of "color theory", but that is just one way to build a palette.   Renaissance artists used a four color palette: red, yellow, green and blue.  The 'Velazquz palette', an even older palette used for centuries uses just three colors: yellow ochre, burnt sienna and ultramarine blue.

Color sketch:


Once the value study was done I thought about the palette for the painting.  I wanted a three color palette that would capture the warmth of the scene as well as provide colors similar to what is seen in the photograph.  The blue pigment I used for the value sketch matched the sky colors very closely.  I then selected Yellow Ochre, not the yellow in either my warm or cool color wheel, but a close match for both the float and the sea oats.  For the final color I selected a vibrant red.  You can see the primary colors (blue, red and yellow) and three secondaries (purple, orange and green) made form mixing the primaries to right of the sketch.  



2 comments:

  1. This was beautifully done. Your limited palette made for a real stunning painting.

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  2. Thank you, I learned a lot about harmony in colors and how a simple palette can make that happen. The final painting is on in my flicker feed which is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/65608075@N08/7323407776/in/photostream/

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