This week I decided to try a different blue and a different yellow than I normally use. I decided to try Phtalo Blue( a really strong blue) and Naples Yellow( a really weak yellow)! I enjoyed both pigments, though I really had to be careful to use only a little Phtalo Blue in mixtures, as it is so strong that it quickly overpowered my other colors-though it is a very pretty blue. Naples Yellow is a great deal mellower than Cadmium Yellow- I will in the future decide which of the two yellows best matches the mood of the painting I’m doing. In addition to these two I used Cadmium Red, white and a little of my dark mixture.
Phthalo Blue
Naples Yellow
Cadmium Red
White
Dark Mixture( I keep a mixture of Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Yellow, and Alizarin Crimson in tubes to use for my darkest dark).
This week I decided to try a palette containing Alizarin Crimson and Viridian because they make such a nice dark when mixed together. I decided to add Cadmium Yellow in order to make a brighter green possible. I was surprised that I was able to make a nice(almost purplish!) gray with Viridian and Alizarin Crimson plus white. Viridian and yellow make a bright, true green. There is no possible way to make blue with these pigments- but that’s okay-sometimes skies in other colors are more interesting!
The colors I used in the following paintings are-
Viridian
Alizarin Crimson
Cadmium Yellow
Titanium White
In my blog, I am trying various color schemes to expand my painting vocabulary. To that end, I am selecting a different color scheme/limited palette each week and basing three little 8 x 6 paintings upon that color palette. If you have any suggestions of color palettes I should try, please email me at nvenhuizen@gmail.com. ( I’d love to have a comment section on this page, but I haven’t yet figured out how to do that!)
This week I decided to try a pink and green color scheme. These wouldn’t ordinarily be the colors which I would choose for depicting the following scenes. I am, however, finding that my paintings have gotten more interesting as I’ve assigned myself color schemes to try. It has helped me get away from the ubiquitous blue sky/ green trees paintings- and has pushed me to try different colors and, consequently, given me a greater vocabulary to express the mood of the scenes I’m painting. After all-if all I wanted was a literal interpretation of a scene, I could take a photograph! The colors I used in the following paintings were-
Viridian
Alizarin Crimson
Yellow Ochre
White
A small bit of my dark mixture( I keep this mixture premixed in tubes. It is a dark color made from Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Yellow, and Ultramarine Blue.)
I was so tempted to use some Cadmium Yellow as highlights in the trees, but- as I know I would have overdone it- it would have overpowered my Green-Pink Color Scheme.
