Using a complementary scheme

Disclaimer

Except for a few variations, I have taken this project from Jean Haines. If you want to see her excellent tutorial, check into her online art school. I chose it because it is such a good example of a complementary color scheme and used several fun techniques.

Supplies

100% cotton paper, quarter sheet or about 10 by 14. 300 lb is best, but 140 cold press is fine if you tape it down.

Tube paints: I used ultramarine turquoise, cyan, quin burnt scarlet, aussie red gold, ochre, and burnt sienna, with a bit of purple at the end.

Kosher and or table salt

Toothbrush

plastic wrap

Optional: soap suds

Objectives: to show how to make colors you don't have in your palette

To show a completed painting in complementary colors

To show some texture techniques

DECIDING ON COLOR

Jean Haines uses a technique she calls "dancing ladies" to determine colors for each painting, and to experiment with color. First, she puts a dot of tube paint from each color she wants to experiment with across the top of a scrap of paper. She wets the area below it to create a place for the paint to flow. She then touches the dot of paint with a wet brush and connects it to the wet area, allowing paint to flow down the paper. She does this with each dot of paint to see how they will look together. You might drop one color into another to see how they blend together.

Since not everyone had the exact colors I used, we used this to also discover what colors to mix together to create similar colors. For example, if they didn't have quin burnt scarlet, they could use burnt sienna with a warm red; if they didn't have aussie red gold, they could create another sand color that they liked, perhaps raw sienna or gold ochre with a touch of heat from orange or burnt sienna.

Now, I'm aware that that picture does not look lovely. That is because, after I was done deciding on my colors, I could use the dots of paint for a palette. So I also painted a lot of my picture with those dots.

CREATNG THE WASH

You have to be prepared to work quickly, wet into wet, so have all your supplies handy: plastic wrap, salt, toothbrush, etc. Beginning with just water, and holding the paper at an angle, wet some areas with a large brush in the direction you want the water to flow. Then apply some turquoise, leaving some areas white. You can add a little ultramarine blue or other blue to enhance the turquoise. Then add aussie red gold to the sand side, adding some other sand colors. 

Before the water area has a chance to dry, you can stretch some plastic wrap across it to creat wave paterns. Leave the plastic on while you work on the sand area.

Create sand textures by: spattering in color with a toothbrush, like burnt sienna, quin burnt scarlet, blue, ochre, etc. Add salt (I used kosher salt). Drop droplets of water on areas as they lose their shine. When you have the effect you want, let everything dry.

AN EXTRA EFFECT: Mine didn't turn out because I didn't give it time, but you can use soap bubbles to make more texture.  Make bubble from dish soap. You lay bubbles on a white of paper and then gently drop paint on top of the bubbles. You can do that on areas you want to look like sea foam.

STARFISH: Brush away all salt after drying thoroughly. I gave out a pattern for the starfish, but I will also tell how Jean Haines drew hers.

Find the center and make a small circle. You want to place the starfish somewhere that you have some salt reactions that left white. This creates nice hilights. Make a dot at a place that looks like an arm would end. Then create a double row of dots from there to the center. Jean uses aussie gold or other light color at first so that if she doesn't like it, it easily washes away with water. Find each arm and make a double line of dots from tip to center. When you are happy with them, darken the center and dots. 

In the picture below you can see where I've completed the arm on lower right. I have also shaded the part between the arms--they look like upside down v's--just lightly to give dimension.

Planning to finish this up next week. 

WATERCOLOR ARTISTS THAT I FOLLOW

 Below is an update on artists that I occasionally follow on youtube and why.

Eric Lin/Cafe Watercolor

Eric is a talented young artist that has a very relaxed style that I find refreshing and unrushed. He will discuss a subject briefly, then do a demo that illustrates that subject. His paintings are often loose landscapes or city scapes, but he does other subjects. He emphasizes the feeling of light and connection in his paintings.

He also offers online classes, but I get a lot out of his youtubes.

Louise DeMasi

Louise is a lovely Australian artist who paints the way I'd love to paint. She does a lot of birds and animals, and has wonderful tips. She often paints wet into wet, and you know I love that style. Check out her youtubes...there are quite a few.

Jean Haines

Jean was a botanical artist from Britain (I think she's Welsh) who challenges herself to keep her work exciting. She now paints in a very loose manner and has a wonderful enthusiasm to go with her wealth of knowledge. And she prides herself on sharing her paintng secrets. She doesn't have very many youtubes to follow, but she does have a website and online art school. (Just google Jean Haines Online Art School)  A free subscription gives a few tutorials and practices; or you can join by the month or year. (It's about $20 a month). That gives access to all her tutorials and practices. She has also published at least 4 books on loose painting.

Andrew Geeson

If you want just a short fun practice, try Andrew Geeson. This is another Brit who has several tutorials on youtube. If you join his website, it costs $10 a month, and you have access to about 140 or more tutorials. Each one is short and usually done on small paper. The tutorials on his website are a little more detailed than what you find on his youtubes. I have several friends who go on there weekly to do the new one. I took my computer on vacation so our group could do a painting together (and I didn't have to be the teacher). I like to go there when I have a half hour or hour to do a warm up or just get out of a rut.

COLOR SCHEMES PART 2

Before I start, I'd like to recommend a website that takes the guess work out of color schemes. On colorsupplyyy.com (yes, there are 3 y's) you will find a simple to use color scheme finder. Click the right or left arrows by the color wheel to choose analogous, complementary, etc. Then move the circles to a color. The chart to the side shows how variations of that scheme will look, using more intense, shaded, tinted, or even muted colors. Check it out. I got this web site from Dr. Oto Kano's youtube on tetradic color schemes.

ANALOGOUS

Three or four colors next to each other on the color wheel. These are colors that play nicely together.

ANALOGOUS + A COMPLEMENT

Three colors next to each other on the color wheel PLUS a complement of one of the colors.

TRIADS

Three colors that form a triangle on the color wheel. 

MUTING COLORS BY ADDING COMPLEMENTS

You can keep colors on the scheme that are muted variations of a color. (or less intense) You accomplish that by adding a little of it's complement. For example, If I want to use a triad of red, green, and blue, I can dull one of the colors, say red, by adding a little green to it to make it less intense. 

THE PROJECT CHALLENGE today was to draw a simple landscape and show each of the four seasons using different color schemes. Color choice is usually very personal--what speaks of spring to me might be different to someone else. I might choose pinks, yellow greens, and pale blues; someone else might choose yellows, greens, and lavender. 

Below you'll see spring and winter. For spring I chose a tetrad of magenta/yellow green/blue/orange. I used a tint of red for the pink trees; cerulean for the sky; yellow green for the grass; muted orange for the barn; shaded orange for the path and tree trunk.

For the winter scene I used analogous cool colors: blue/blue violet/violet/red violet to create a very cold feeling. 

Below you see autumn and summer. I used the neutralized versions of each color to demonstrate that it is still part of that color scheme if you use tints, shades, and neutrals. It s a tetrad of blue/orange; red green. I muted the blue of the sky with a little orange to create a grayer sky; I neutralized the red of the barn wth a touch of greeen; the green grass is neutralized with a drop of red so that it looks more like autumn. I used the orange in the tree as an intense color to bring out the tree. 

 The summer picture I used with a triad: blue/red/green. I kept the colors pretty bright and pure because to me, summer means bright lights, lots of contrast, and a very warm feeling.

If I hadn't wanted blue for the skies, I would not have needed to include it in my color scheme. I could have used a violet sky, or orange sky, or gray, and it would have changed what I could use as a color scheme.

It was interesting in class to see how differently each student perceived the seasons.

For more in-depth videos on color schemes, Dr. Oto Kano has 11 on youtube on color theory.

COLOR SCHEMES 101

 USING YOUR SPLIT PRIMARY COLOR WHEEL

Here is my completed split primary color wheel. I used only the primaries labeled to mix the other colors.

I made a chart for the middle to find different color schemes. (NOTE: IF YOU DON'T CENTER THE MIDDLE OF THE CHART WITH THE MIDDLE OF THE COLOR WHEEL, IT DOESN'T WORK)

RED LINE: Line it up with a color, and the other end of the line points to its complement. In the above picture, it points to yellow and violet.

BLUE/RED LINES: SPLIT COMPLEMENTARY. Point to a color with the red line. The two blue lines on either side of the complement indicate the two colors for split complementary color scheme.This split comp. consists of yellow, blue violet, and red violet.(or find the complement and the color on the left and on the right of it are the colors you use)

PURPLE TRIANGLE: TRIAD. A triad can be any triangle that is a logical arrangement of colors. A split complement is a sort of triad, but I think of it separately. In this picture, the triad is orange, green, and violet.

THE GREEN lines indicate a TETRAD, or four colors. The square is also a tetrad. In the RED tetrad above, the colors are yellow, blue green, violet, and red orange. (Notice the two pairs of complements: yellow and violet; blue green and red orange)  In the green rectangular tetrad below, the colors are yellow orange, red orange, blue green, and blue violet. (the two pairs of complements are red orange and blue green; yellow orange and blue violet)

NOTICE that in any tetrad you form, you will end up with two pairs of exact complements.

In class we did not cover some color schemes yet, such as analogous, analaogous + complement, and odd triads.We did however discuss MONOCHROME. In monochrome you choose a color and use it either full strength or with tints or shades. You create a shade with black (or in this case, neutral tint), and tints are created by thinning the paint. (Or you can use white if you don't mind the opaque)

FOR THIS PROJECT you need to find a simple design and copy it four times onto a sheet of paper. I taped the sides and center to protect it and to give a crisp, quilt like effect when finished.

The first square is done in monochrome, using Alizarin Crimson. I watered it down for tints and added neutral tint for shades. Blacks and whites are usually ok in a monochrome.

The bottom left here is complementary using red orange and bue green. Some of the greens are darker, some lighter, but it is the hue that matters not the value.

Top right is a split complementary using orange, blue green, and blue violet.

Bottom right is a tetrad using Orange, yellow green, blue, and magenta. 

Below is another pattern with the same idea. Monochrome on top left; Complementary with orange and blue on top right; Split comp. with yellow, red violet and blue violet; and last a triad with orange, violet, and green. (the other doesn't include a triad)

When doing the above project, try to keep a warm or cool dominance. (monochrome excepted) For example in the design in the top right above, there is a cool dominance: there is less of the orange (warm) than of the bluet, which is cool. 

COMPLEMENTARY COLORS

Complement means something that completes. Think of a color, say red. What are the 2 primaries missing? Blue and yellow. Together they make green. So green is the color that provides what red is missing. If I have orange, which is made of yellow and red, the primary missing is blue.

I have a blog on January 29, 2020 that gives some reason for using complements. It also contains a chart for how to neutralize colors using their complements, creating browns and grays.

SPLIT PRIMARY COLOR WHEEL--WHAT'S IN YOUR PALETTE?

 I like to discuss things I wish I had understood earlier in my painting journey. Things that would have made for less frustration. So I assume that if I didn't get it, maybe some of my students have a hard time with the subject too. I would never claim I wasn't taught, just that I didn' get it. 

For the first time ever in a dozen years of teaching, I decided to talk about the color wheel. THE SPLIT PRIMARY color wheel. 

Most are familiar with the general color wheel, with primaries of red, yellow and blue. And  that red and blue make purple, right? So why is my purple so muddy? Yellow and blue make green....so why does my green look so gross? 

This is because, in reality, it's hard to find a true primary red or blue in paint form. We solve this by having a warm and a cool of each primary color: warm red looks a little orange next to a cool red, which looks a bit pink. A warm yellow looks a bit orange compared to a cool yellow, which has no orange in it, or no RED BIAS.

BIAS is the color your paint leans toward. To make a pretty, intense green, you want a blue that has a green BIAS, or leans toward green, like pthalo or cyan. To make a pretty violet, use a blue with a red bias...(not that it looks red or purple, but it leans more to violet and has no green in it) and a PINKer red, which we say has a blue bias. It has no orange tendencies.

(If you have difficulty trying to find the bias of a blue, mix a little lemon yellow with it. If it makes a pretty green, that blue has a green bias. If it makes an olive green, that blue has a red bias)

In class we created a split primary palette. It's important to make it from the colors in your own palette, what you have. It helps you determine what colors you can make, but also what colors you may need to add (or subtract) to your palette.

Below are two helpful youtubes from Dr. Oto Kano. The first is on the basic color wheel and what makes a warm and cool color. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5IO4uSDQps&list=PLpD2RS3zo8zRBXGjKjp_5ZWBTZnKW-4XE   about 17 min

The second explains in detail what a split primary palette is and why it is useful.

https://youtu.be/AjGvtp0lOtw     about 19 minutes

After we made the color wheel, I asked students to find other colors they have and find out where they would fit on this color wheel. We labeled the colors with the brand names on the tubes instead of the generic hue name.

You can see in the unfinished picture below (I don't have violet or blue violet in there yet) how I've created a split primary color wheel, based oncolor bias. The dark lines represent a division. If you keep your color mixing between those line (ex: warm yellow to warm red; cool yellow to cool blue; cool red to warm blue) then your colors will remain unmuddied and intense.  

The tiny dots represent a brand color name that would fit close to that area of the wheel.