simple abstract using complementary colors to create neutrals

     

 Use the color wheel to discover what each colors opposite, or complementary, color is.

Complement means "to complete." (red/green; blue/orange;yellow/violet) A good way to remember a color's complement is to think of one of the colors, say red. What 2 primaries are not used? Blue and yellow, which together make green. So red and green are complements. Think of violet, which is made from red and blue. What primary is not used? Yellow. So yellow is the complement of violet.

Try to find as many tones as possible by adding two complements together.

First we made a chart. On the left is the primary color, and on the far right is the complement. Paint in the primary color. I started with red. In the next circle or rectangle, add a little of the complement, in this case green. It will still look red, but slightly neutralized. In each successive circle, add a little more of the complement. In the middle you should get one brown and one gray. The brown will have more of the red, and the gray will have more of the green.

Do this with each primary and its complement. Label the colors that you used.

Many artists make their browns and grays using French ultramarine (for the blue) and burnt sienna for the orange. Try to make a brown and gray with these. You can make a very dark gray, almost black with these two colors.

FOR THE PROJECT:

Choose a primary and its complement. On your paper, create some shapes of your choosing using the bright primary and the complement, unneutralized. Then make more shapes using some of your neutralized colors, still using the same primary and complement you started with. You can overlap shapes, make some of them have texture, or have some edges fading away. 

When this is dry, use some black fine tip marker to create lines, dots, textures to add interest and to "connect" some of the shapes. Just relax and have fun with this. This should almost be meditative.

Here is an example. I used some geometric shapes on this on, slightly bulged in places. I first put in the yellow and purple shapes, then created some neutralized yellows and grays and added some more shapes.

When I started with the pen, first I tried to add interest to some of the shapes, adding some lines in or around them. I connected some of the shapes by drawing shapes around them. I Made a dotted path around the picture to connect some things. As I played with it, I began to think it looked like detritus dropped in the ocean. So I decided to add a fish peeking out. Then I added a school of smaller fish. And as I looked, I realized that the whole shape was looking a lot like an angel fish, so I enhanced that look by adding a triangle shape on the right for a mouth, and a few long purple shapes to suggest fins.

Here are a few student works, some not finished, but with great starts.