I decided to put together some of my favorite color quotes by the master artists. Color is such a mysterious and fascinating area and it is interesting to read how some of the master artists viewed color. When many of these artists were alive, color was not nearly as understood or studied as it is … Read more
This post will discuss how you can mix your own earth tones. Earth tones are browns and ochres such as raw umber, burnt sienna and yellow ochre. I cover: The purpose of this post is not to show you how to replace earth tones on your palette. Instead, it is merely to demonstrate that earth … Read more
George Henry (1858-1943) was a talented Scottish painter who attended the Glasgow School. His paintings demonstrate rich colors and strong contrasting elements. My favorite painting by far is River Landscape By Moonlight. This is a perfect demonstration of how you can paint the illusion of light. As you are probably aware, we are not able to duplicate … Read more
Vivid colors usually get all the attention, so this post is dedicated to the subtle beauty of muted colors. I find that one of the most common problems of beginner painters is that they completely overlook the importance of muted colors in favor of the more flashy vivid reds, blues, oranges, purples, and so on. … Read more
Childe Hassam (October 17, 1859 – August 27, 1935) was a brilliant American painter who had a unique impressionist style. In particular, the way he used color is inspirational. Few artists have the ability to push such rich and vivid colors without the painting appearing jarring or overdone. Hassam was a busy artist, producing over 3,000 … Read more
Green has always been a troublesome color for beginners. Why that is the case, I’m not sure. It may have something to do with a lack of understanding of how to mix color. Or maybe it has something to do with how we actually perceive green. As Pablo Picasso once said: They’ll sell you thousands … Read more
In this post, I will discuss how you can use a low key to create very dramatic paintings. This post will follow on from my previous post which was all about painting in a high key. Low key paintings utilize colors the lower (darker) end of the value range. So your darks will be around … Read more
This post will be all about using an analogous color scheme to create beautifully harmonious paintings. I will say first and foremost that a color scheme is not really that important. I rarely start a painting with a pre-determined color scheme in mind. The color scheme itself does not really create harmony, it is just … Read more
Complementary colors are basically colors that are on directly opposite sides of the color wheel. So blue is a complement of orange, red is a complement of green, yellow is a complement of violet and so on. Complementary colors provide striking visual effects when paired together. Claude Monet said this about complementary colors in 1888: … Read more
An amazing technique for drawing attention to your focal point is to use increased color saturation to contrast against areas of more muted colors. I used this technique in my most recent painting, Queenstown From the Shore: This was a fairly gloomy painting with mostly muted colors. But this presents a perfect opportunity to draw … Read more