Pthalo blue, opera, Hansa yellow…
Cobalt teal, rose done, cadmium yellow deep…
Windsor blue, scarlet lake, Indian yellow….
French ultramarine, alizarin crimson, Naples yellow…
What am I learning from these? Well…I don’t use enough pigment when I mix colors. Many of my yellows are opaque and really dull the mixes. It’s hard to mix bright greens, but interesting to see the variety of neutrals and the neutrals are most interesting when they tilt towards a primary. I’m still working on this last one, which seems to be producing the most variety. More to come….
I’m glad you’re having fun mixing these red-yellow-blue pallets but I’m amazed at the growth of your portraiture. You are definitely defining a portrait style that shines through even using these limited palettes. I suspect it’s a combination of better drawing and an inventive approach to color.
ReplyDeleteInteresting idea, color testing on the page opposite the painting. What if you used the same image in all three paintings, or do you think different triads work better with different paintings? I do a lot of testing in doing a painting, but I never nail anything down, I just want to become acquainted and save some surprises to make doing the painting more interesting. See, it's all about me.
ReplyDeleteThese look fun--and educational, but still fun! I remember us trying something similar when we were doing the "purple book." It was amazing what a difference the different triads made. I see all your yellows are warm. I think you'd get a bright green with a lemon yellow and a pthalo blue. Interesting observation about the neutrals. I agree with you. Anyway, I love these--both the color mixing page and the actual painting. Especially love the bold choice with the opera.
ReplyDeleteYeah, these are great triad studies, Sara. And it is interesting seeing the testing page next to the painting. It's a good way to get out of using the same colors all the time. And seeing how different triads lead to different feelings or atmospheres. You can really notice it when using the different triads, but painting the same image each time.
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DeletePainting the same image each time sounds boring. But my original idea was just to paint portraits. Maybe I’ll go back to that…
And your portraits are great. I was just mentioning using the same image shows how radically different each triad behaves. Not that you need to do that.
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