Monday, April 28, 2008

A More Formal Look at Color...

I’m a little tired of working with pencil at the moment – as much as I enjoy the medium, it's too much of the same. It’s time for a little color.

I used to paint with oils in college, but those materials are long gone. I like oil paints, though - the textures and the smells. However, dealing with disposal of the chemicals and having kids around has encouraged me to give acrylics a try (and they're taking some getting used to).

One of the things I’ve wanted to do is make a color wheel. I’ve been wanting to understand color a lot more than I do and explore more color options. As I’ve mentioned before, I tend to fall back on the familiar bright, expressionistic color palette that I was so enamored with in college (and it was easy). And, the natural colors that I want to use now require less “out-of-the-tube” and more thoughtful mixing. I have done some simple color mixing swatches with some of colors, but it’s time to take it further. I feel like I’m back in Color Theory 101, but this time it's not just another exercise to get through - I know what I need to focus on and where I want to go with it.


I started this exercise last night by creating a series of circles for my color wheel and dividing it into 12 sections for primary, secondary, and tertiary colors. I figure I'll work with complementary pairs at a time. I still struggle with the quick-dry of acrylics, so this way I can quickly work from the same mixture all the way across the circle.

OOOoooooo, I’m looking forward to painting!

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