It's the season for Red! I love red so it is easy to get excited about painting red things. Red can be overpowering though. And since I like to build up my color with layers of pastel I don't want to jump right in with the 'Power Red'. I have a technique for working with red that allows the most vibrant reds to really glow.
The color chart below shows my technique. The trick is to start layering with a duller and darker red. I sometimes even begin with a dark purple. Here I began with a dark brick red. I selected two other dull cooler reds for the middle layers. I reserved the most vibrant and warmest (orange) reds for the final layers. You can see these bright reds better when they are layered over the dark cool reds. In contrast if you just go right to the brightest red it isn't as interesting!
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| color chart of reds |
I am using Terry Ludwig red pastels with some Schminkes as well. The top painting is on white pastemat and the bottom painting is on Uart sanded paper.
1 comment:
It is so good to have you back blogging. How timely for me to receive your notes on the cardinal. I have been wanting to paint one but a little intimidated by the reds.
Debbie
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