More on Color Schemes: A Challenging Scheme

'Mystery 2'          12 x 18         pastel       ©Karen Margulis
sold

 It should be easy.  All you need to do is choose 3 or 4 neighboring colors on the color wheel. This makes up  an Analogous Color Scheme. How hard could it be then to pick the colors and get a good painting?  Not as easy as it looks.   We all have our favorite colors and color schemes (even if we don't know it or label it)   In looking over my work I have discovered that I never use a purely analogous scheme.

Analogous Color Schemes are restful. Since the colors are next door neighbors to one another they are harmonious and pleasing to the eye. This color scheme is often found in nature so it it a perfect color recipe to use for a landscape painting. Paintings using this scheme are serene, peaceful, calm.

But I find a pure analogous color scheme to be a bit too calm and serene.....they can easily become a bit too boring to my liking. When I find myself using analogous colors I tend to incorporate the complement and some discords for some color surprise.  This is known as Analogous-Complementary scheme and it is probably one of my favorites. I love using an the Analogous Color Wheel to help me.

How can we make a pure analogous scheme work ? I challenged myself to give it a try. It was difficult to stick with my chosen scheme of yellow, yellow-green, green and blue-green. I so wanted to take out some red- violet! I exercised restraint and in the end made it work. Here is what I learned:

My chosen colors are yellow, yellow-green, green, and blue-green

• Choose one of the colors in the scheme to be dominant. I chose Yellow-green. 

• Choose a second color to be a support color and use it in a smaller amount. I chose Yellow.

• The third and fourth colors are used in an even smaller amount. These colors are accents. I used blue-green and green in the smallest amounts.

• Contrast becomes important in an analogous scheme. Make sure the contrast of dark and light is strong enough.

My reference photo

This is the same scene using a Tertiary Triad color scheme

Changing the color scheme can totally change the look and feel of a painting. Have fun with color and take out a color wheel and challenge yourself this weekend! Pick the scheme that you never use and see what happens!

Try my COLOR RECIPE WORKSHEET to help keep track of your colors. Click here.

A Tip for Trying New Color Schemes

'A Change of Seasons'          11x14     pastel          ©Karen Margulis
available   $165

I am buried in boxes and bags and crates of stuff today. Not only am I cleaning my studio I decided to take on the herculean task of cleaning my two storage rooms. I will take you on a tour of this process tomorrow. It is going to take awhile to put everything back together again.

So today I am sharing the demo I did a couple of weeks ago for the last pastel class of the year. We were working on color theory and using advanced color schemes. I like to call them color recipes and I love to use them to help me come up with more interesting color ideas. The basic color schemes such as complementary and analogous are easy enough to use but I love to play with the more challenging schemes such as Adjacent-Complementary Tetrad!

My color recipe worksheet

That's right! adjacent-complemnetary tetrad or how about analogous-complementary or split-complementary tetrad? Theses schemes sound complicated but they really can lead to some wonderful color combinations. The really aren't that hard to use with the help of a color wheel and a piece of scrap paper.

TIP: Decide in advance the colors that will make up your recipe and make color notes on a piece of scrap paper. Don't rely on your memory. Take notes!

• I also remind myself that I can use variations of the color in my recipe. In other words if one of my colors is yellow I don't have to use the pure yellow we see at the top of the color wheel. I can use a variety of values and temperatures of yellow. I can use pure yellow and grayed down yellows. I have choices!  

• Making color swatches or notes allows me to see my choices on paper. I can see how the colors work together and I can remember which colors to use. (I won't forget about my recipe and add unrelated colors because my ingredients are already selected!)

Using a color scheme allowed me to completely change the mood and season of today's painting. The original and local colors in my reference photos were warm autumn tones of orange, reds, violets and golds. I turned the scene into spring with new color choices.

If you are looking for a great book on color and color schemes I recommend Nita Leland's books. I used the book 'Confident Color' to help me decipher these advanced color schemes

My Favorite Color Tool Comes to the Rescue

'Waiting for Winter'            9x12             pastel           ©Karen Margulis
click here to purchase $145

Color choices are not always easy. Especially if one wishes to be more expressive with color. It is easy enough to look at a reference and find the colors to match what is in the scene. But what if we want to go beyond this color? What if we don't want to copy the colors in the photo exactly? Maybe we even wish to change the colors completely? How can we play with color yet still be successful?

Color sense can be developed. The more we know about color...the more we understand the color wheel and color relationships....the more fluent we will be with using interesting and exciting color. No, it does not always come easily but it can be nurtured.

Color wheels and other tools can help and I have a favorite.

 It is called the Original Hal Reid Analogous Color Wheel.

Using the Analogous Color Wheel

 I have blogged about this color wheel in the past.
Here is a link:http://www.kemstudios.blogspot.com/2015/01/my-favorite-color-tool.html

I decided to use this color wheel for today's pastel class demo. We are working on Color and color schemes. We worked on monochromatic, complementary and triadic schemes before trying an analogous color scheme.
I love working with analogous color.....using colors that are next to one another on the color wheel. They are restful, calming and work well for many landscapes. The problem is they can also be a bit too restful and calm. Sometimes they seem to lack a little punch or excitement.

 The Analogous Color Wheel comes to the rescue by suggesting colors that will add to the scheme and create a more pleasing painting. According to the information printed on the wheel "... a painting should have most of its colors on one part of the color wheel along with neutral grays to enhance them and a small amount of the dominant hues's correct complement."

How does the wheel work?

For today's demo I decided to use the wheel to create a more interesting analogous scheme....I call it Analogous Plus.

• I am disregarding the colors in the reference photo and I choose Green, Yellow Green and Blue Green as the dominant hues. I turn the wheel placing them at the top.
• The wheel suggests that the complement of the green is red violet (not that this wheel is based on the Munsell color system (another blog topic!)
• I decide to use the complement of Red violet for the first layer (underpainting) I use 4 values of red-violet.
• I used various values of green, blue green and yellow green to develop the painting. I use both pure intense green and grayed down neutral greens.
• Discords are also suggested by the wheel. Discords are the spices....colors used in small amounts often near the center of interest. Discords add interst (spice) to the painting. The discords suggested for my scheme is red-orange and blue-violet. Can you see where I used them in my painting?