Color Challenge #2

Happy Wednesday!

Color Challenge #2 is this:

• Select a subject that you want to paint.
• Identify the one color you cannot do without for that subject. (Cad red in this one.)
• Use a standard palette or a CMYK palette.  Study and decide what other colors could work best for you.  Select three other colors, two spaces apart on the color wheel, creating a tetradic color scheme.  (This scheme makes a square.)
• Do two color studies, one warm and one color, using these four colors.  Note that you have two warm and two cool (usually) and that you have two sets of complements.
• Paint your subject using these four colors in combinations that work for you.
• Remember to have color and temperature dominance.
• Be cautious while creating grays that may become "dead" if taken too far.
• Notice what decisions you had to make to make the scheme "work" for you in an actual painting.

I hope to see some fun results of this exploration!  I had a terrific time trying to apply this tetradic scheme to "Flying Free (Green-winged Macaw)" 14x11 oil.  I fudged the red toward the red-orange, using cad red as the color I had to have, and using cad yellow pale, phthalo blue, and a little ultramarine (BV).

As a footnote, the free online Gamut Mask Tool is a great resource for playing with color options.

New Website Link for FASO

I have a new link, until my domain name transfer is complete:  Sara Chambers Fine Art.
Check out my new look!  And sign up for my e-newsletter HERE.  The full change should be finished by next week!  Yay!

"Golden" ("Emma Too, Golden Retriever--Courthouse Dog")
6x6 oil 

Meanwhile, here is a photo of a small palette knife study I did of Emma, the Chavez County Courthouse CASA dog.  This was a color study of oranges and cyan on a burnt sienna toned canvas.  This and another painting will be a gift to the Chavez County CASA Program, since she is their dog!

New Website Look and Color Challenges

I am taking the plunge--changing my website provider to FASO.  I do hope this is not toooo painful a process.  They are supposed to move my domain name, so it should remain the same.  Here's hoping!

I have spent all afternoon working on the new site, and I am just getting started!  I have only uploaded a dozen images, putting them into collections.  Once I get going, adding images will be simple.  But change is painful!!

I've been doing a lot of study about color lately.  Two students came to my studio a couple of weeks ago to explore the nuances of using color in our art.  What a blast we had!

The image on the left, "Spots of Sun," is intended to explore the split complements of Y, BV, RV.  It's my first pastel in a while.

My Weekly Color Challenge #1 for my students (and for any who would like to participate) is this:

1. Using a standard primary palette, choose a complement pair (ie R-G, B-O, Y-V, YO-BV, RO-VG, RV-YG).  If you want to keep it simpler for the first time, choose a primary pair.
2. Paint two studies--1@ warm dominance and cool dominance.
3. Do a small painting using the combination.

Points to consider:

1. What is the dominant temperature?
2. How much contrast or depth comes from putting warm against cool?
3. How do you achieve rhythm and/or a center of interest?
4. How much pure color can you use of each of the pair and still achieve harmony?

Send me pictures of the results by next Thursday.  Let's play!

I would enjoy having an ongoing exchange of ideas and experiments with any interested artists.