Pick a Color, Any Color!

'The Edge of Magic'            8x10       pastel      ©Karen Margulis
available $145

I pick blue! I wanted to challenge myself this week by doing only monochromatic paintings. Having only one color family to think about results in one less decision to make when painting. I am free to play with marks and expression. These things sometimes get neglected when we are overly focused on choosing the right colors.

Trying out a frame to see if I am finished

I had finished my weekly Patreon video and looked down a the tray of gorgeous blue pastels. I wasn't finished exploring and playing with them! So I pull out a discarded painting from the pile. It was on old Pastelbord with a bad attempt at plein air. It was easy to brush off some of the loose layers and et down the rest with rubbing alcohol.

The old painting turned on the side. Tilt your head to see the painting.

Brushed off and liquified with rubbing alcohol .Reference photo on top right

The new blue base was perfect for my forest scene. I even had some suggested tree trunks! It was fun exploring the forest using only blue pastels. I allowed myself a variety of blues and a variety of brands. I had a selection of warm and cool and dark, middle and light value. How many different blues can you see in the painting?

Tomorrow I will share another blue monochromatic painting along with tips for painting with one color family.

A Quick Way to Test Color for a Pastel Painting

'Follow Where it Leads Us'          12 x 18           pastel        ©Karen Margulis
available $195

 A painting should begin with a plan. I have a few steps involved in my planning stage. I admit I sometimes skim over some of them but lately I have added a step that I won't skip. It is all about the color!

Color can be chaotic without thought and planning. 

Some artists are fortunate and  have a finely tuned sense of color.  They instinctively know just which colors to pick up. They make interesting and harmonious color choices seemingly without effort and without preplanning.  I admire that ability but I don't like to leave color to chance. I don't want to get halfway through a painting and become lost in the pile of pastels that is growing on my easel tray. I don't want to deal with color chaos.

Now I don't have to take my chances with color anymore. I make time to make a

 COLOR NOTE STUDY.

Quick color notes

• Color Note Studies are small scraps of paper (preferably the same paper/color of the painting) They are not detailed mini paintings.

• Color Note Studies are simply marks on the paper that represent the various elements in the painting.  They can be a very loose abstracted series of marks.

• Color Note Studies allow the artists to see how the colors selected for a painting will look together and their approximate relationships. 

• The studies save the artist much frustration and saves pastel. We can visualize how a color palette will look before experimenting on a bigger piece of paper. Experiment on a tiny piece!

Today's painting was a demo for a private class. I was painting from a photo of a summer meadow filled with pink flowers. My concept was to turn the meadow into a fall scene with yellow flowers. The color study notes helped me see if my color choices would work for my concept.

Try This: Make a commitment to do a color note study for your next painting. Decide in advance what your palette will be and test out your choices on a scrap of paper.

Would you like more lessons on color? 

Consider joining my Patreon page. We will be exploring color for the month of March. I will share video demos, step by step photo demos and weekly color challenges. You can cancel at any time and once you are a patron you have access to all of the previous lessons and videos. At $4 a month it is a great value. Here is the link to check out the page. www.patreon.com/karenmargulis

One Important Task Before Painting

'Transitions'         9x12        pastel        ©Karen Margulis
available $125

A painting should begin with a plan. I have a few steps involved in my planning stage. I admit I sometimes skim over some of them but lately I have added a step that I won't skip. It is all about the color!

Color can be chaotic without thought and planning. 

Some artists are fortunate and  have a finely tuned sense of color.  They instinctively know just which colors to pick up. They make interesting and harmonious color choices seemingly without effort and without preplanning.  I admire that ability but I don't like to leave color to chance. I don't want to get halfway through a painting and become lost in the pile of pastels that is growing on my easel tray. I don't want to deal with color chaos.

Now I don't have to take my chances with color anymore. I make time to make a

 COLOR NOTE STUDY.

a 2.5 x 3.5 inch color note study.

• Color Note Studies are small scraps of paper (preferably the same paper/color of the painting) They are not detailed mini paintings.

• Color Note Studies are simply marks on the paper that represent the various elements in the painting.  They can be a very loose abstracted series of marks.

• Color Note Studies allow the artists to see how the colors selected for a painting will look together and their approximate relationships. 

• The studies save the artist much frustration and saves pastel. We can visualize how a color palette will look before experimenting on a bigger piece of paper. Experiment on a tiny piece!

Today's painting was a demo for a private class. I was painting from a photo of a summer meadow filled with pink flowers. My concept was to turn the meadow into a fall scene with yellow flowers. The color study notes helped me see if my color choices would work for my concept.

Try This: Make a commitment to do a color note study for your next painting. Decide in advance what your palette will be and test out your choices on a scrap of paper.

What is this Patreon Page you are talking about? 

I have had some questions and concerns about the new platform I am using to share additional instructional resources. My Patreon Page is EXTRA STUFF! I will still post to this blog and make free videos for youtube but I will offer expanded posts with themes and challenges and demos in Patreon. The page is $4 a month. This blog and my Youtube channel are free and will continue to operate as usual!

THANK YOU to all of you who are now supporting me on Patreon. I am excited to be able to share even more with you. Check it out if you haven't seen it yet: www.patreon.com/karenmargulis

And here is a comment from an artist who uses Patreon:

To your subscribers, I follow a few creators in Patreon and this is an excellent way to learn more of their techniques and really get to know how they think when they are painting. It is an excellent value for the immense amount of information you receive. There is no long-term commitment. You pledge $4 a month and get email notification when something is posted on Patreon. You can unsubscribe to a creator whenever you want before the first of the month and not be charged that next month. Your rate never changes unless you change it. Karen may decide to add Patreon features such as one on one critiques at a higher rate and you can sign up if you want or not. One of my creators allows 10 patrons a month this feature as you can imagine it's very intensive and time consuming for them. But again, you may elect to do it one or two months and then stop so another student can have the opportunity. All in all, Patreon is a great feature for students and gives the creator the necessary funds to be able to test out new products and demonstrate for us, show expanded detailed videos of their techniques and give us a sneak peak into their art world! Win-win!!

My Top Tip for Exciting Color

'Drama in the Afternoon II'          9x12         pastel        ©Karen Margulis
available $150

 It's fun to play with color. I've been sharing my studies based upon color scheme experiments. Working with the color wheel and color schemes opens up the wonderful world of color to us and gives us tools to move away from local expected color. But how do we make these color schemes work? It isn't enough to choose the colors and throw them on the paper. Where does each color in the scheme go? It is very simple.

It's all about Value. Value is the key to success with color.

You've probably heard the saying the VALUE does all the work but COLOR gets the glory. Commit it to memory. If you create a strong map of values....dark shapes, light shapes and middle value shapes. All you need to do is follow the map with the appropriate value pastel. Trees can be green or fuchsia but as long as the value is correct it will look like a tree.

Demo painting form my Florida workshop

Value allowed me to experiment with color in these two paintings. I started both with a two value (notan) underpainting of black and white. I was able to follow this map with dark and light value pastels. I tried a different set of colors for the painting at the top of the page. The result was a completely different mood. Value doing the work!

Choosing Good Colors for Distant Trees

'Meadow Light'         12 x 18           pastel           ©Karen Margulis
available $195

It truly is one of the top secrets to a successful landscape painting. Creating the illusion of depth is something I take into serious consideration every time I paint. If I am successful the painting will invite the viewer to explore....to walk into the painting and discover what lies behind the trees and flowers. 

There are several ways to create a feeling of space or depth in a painting and they are the principles of linear and aerial perspective. Understanding and using these principles is important to successful landscapes. One of these tools is adjusting the value and color of objects as they recede. In most circumstances choosing lighter and cooler colors for the distant objects will make them appear farther away. But what colors are good choices for distant objects such as trees?

'Meadow Light Study'      6x8     pastel on Canson      $75

It is important to mention that color is relative. What appears light or dark or warm or cool changes depending on what is put down next to it. So a warm yellow green will appear warm unless something warmer is next to it....then it may actually look cooler.  There are also exceptions to the 'lighter and cooler' rule. For example you might have a shaft of brilliant warm light illuminating the distant trees....these trees would be warm.

 So with this in mind, there are some colors that I find work well most of the time for DISTANT trees, bushes and even hills and mountains. Look at my photo below for some of my 'Go To' distant tree colors.

A selection of effective colors for distant foliage/trees....a variety of pastel  brands

Notice that they are mostly grayed or neutral blues and violet and blue-greens. They are dull and subtle colors. But they are oh so beautiful for VERY distant treelines. There is a variety of pastel brands in my tray but they are mostly well used Terry Ludwig pastels. I find that using several of the distant colors in a tree line makes it more interesting.

NOTE: In addition to using these great colors in the distant trees, notice that I paint them with no detail. I paint them as loose shapes. There would be no visible detail this far back. This is another principle of aerial perspective.

The green pastel on the left is too warm/ yellow to work for far away trees

To illustrate how effective these gray blue pastels are for representing distant trees,  I placed a warm yellow green pastel in the mix (above) You can see how this green jumps forward. I used it in the big trees in the middle ground but it is too warm (yellow) for the distant trees.

TRY THIS: Have a look through your pastels and pick out some gray blues and greens and violets that might work for a very distant treeline. Now use these colors in a painting to test out your selection.

Tips for Working with Yellow Pastels

'Canyon Color'          11x14       pastel         ©Karen Margulis
available $175

As if you needed another reason to add to your pastel collection!  How about Chamisa in bloom?  Can you tell I am enjoying my new Terry Ludwig set of Stunning Yellows? I always enjoyed using yellow. I like a lot of yellow subjects....flowers, sand, sky, sunlight!  But I always found yellow a challenging color to work with in pastel. I found it difficult to get it bright and sunny enough! I have some tips below but I have to say that this set of pastels is making the job easier!

Terry Ludwig's Stunning Yellows

Tips for working with Yellow

• Start with orange. When building up a mass of yellow begin with darker values if possible. I like to start with the orange family then gradually build to the lightest and brightest yellows.

• Use violets. Using the complement of yellow which is violet will help the yellows be more visually exciting. Surround yellows with violets (all kinds) or place them side by side for more interesting yellows.

• Go darker. If your yellows don't seem bright enough try surrounding them with a darker value color. It will be like turning the lights on in a dark room!

• Warm and cool. It helps to have a variety of warm orangey yellows and cooler lemon yellows in a mass of yellow.

• Use Shouting marks. When you really want your yellow to stand out....press harder. A few hard edged marks will contrast nicely with softer marks. These shouting marks will stand out!

2.5 x 3.5 color study

"For most people, yellow is a happy color. It generally energizes, relieves depression, improves memory and stimulates appetite."  Shirley Williams

Read more about yellow from Shirley on her color website here

close up of the chamisa details

TIP: Consider splitting a set of pastels with a friend. It is easy enough to cut the pastels in half. International reader....Terry Ludwig ships internationally. Sharing with a friend will help with the shipping cost!

Master Color with These Must Have Books

'Where Poppies Grow'           8x10         pastel         ©Karen Margulis
available $225

 I could not have asked for better news. The day that Nita Leland asked me to be a part of her newly updated book  Exploring Color was a dream come true. I have been such a fan of her books. They have truly been the key to helping this self-taught artist understand color. Whenever I had a color question these books have been my go-to resource. Whenever I felt like I was in a color rut I would open up one of the books and be filled with inspiration and ideas. I always recommended her books to my students. They are easy to understand and beautifully illustrated.

So when Nita asked if I would do a demo for the 30th anniversary edition of Exploring Color I was beyond excited. It was such a pleasure working with Nita on my part of the book. And now months later it is available! I immediately ordered a special package deal from Northlight which includes the new book Exploring Color, Confident Color and Nita's own Color Scheme Selector. I just checked and the kit is out of stock (8/25/16) but the books are available.

Visit Nita Leland's website

I just received the package and I can't wait to dive into it and read this new edition. Of course the color wheel/color scheme selector intrigues me and I can't wait to try it out. I will be sharing my discoveries here on the blog.

If you are looking for a comprehensive and practical book about color be sure to order Nita's books. I will be writing a more detailed review of the new book and color scheme selector soon but I wanted to share the news with you!

My demo spread in Exploring Color

This is step one of the demo. See all steps in the book!

When the Sand is Blue...A Lesson in Observation

'Deep Breath'            9x12         pastel          ©Karen Margulis
sold

Sand comes in many colors.  If you told me there was  such a thing as blue sand I am not sure I would believe it. I've seen white sand, black, yellow, peach, pink and even violet sand but I don't think I ever saw blue sand.  The truth is that the sand can be blue.  In certain light and conditions light colored sand can appear to be blue. Sand in shadows and sand without direct light will appear blue and violet and maybe even green. It isn't the local color we assign it...the color is determined by the conditions.

It is a matter of really seeing the true colors of things and not just jumping to the local color that we have assigned to those things.

When I started painting this sunrise beach scene my brain was trying to tell me that the sand was a pale creamy value...we would consider it  a 'white sand beach.'   But if I were to use a white or pale cream pastel the painting wouldn't look believable. I would have a sunrise sky with daytime 'sunny' sand. To put the sand in shadow I needed to override what my brain was trying to tell me and be a better OBSERVER.

close up detail of sand

When I took a deep breath and really looked at the sand I could see that it was definitely cool and blue. Yes I knew it was 'white sand' but it looked blue in the cool shadows of the sunrise. I painted the sand blue and the illusion of the rising sun was created.

sunrise pastels

It seems strange to paint a blue sandy beach but it is what I saw.  It is important to turn off the part of your brain that gives you the accepted local colors and really allow ourselves to see the color as it really appears. This will result in a painting that is more authentic.

A Beautiful Mess...Making Sense of a Messy Palette

'Fall Fantasy'          5x7          pastel         ©Karen Margulis
available $75

It happens every couple of weeks. I start out with a clean slate....or clean butcher trays!  I like to begin a new painting by choosing the pastels I will use and putting them in a tray. Having a limited palette forces me to have some control over my color harmony. It helps me approach a painting with a plan of sorts. And for me having the plan is like having a map.....I have directions in case I get lost....but I am always open to taking detours!

I know many artists don't care for this way of working. It seems confining or maybe too involved. There are many valid reasons for not preselecting a palette and wonderful paintings are created from what seems to be an overwhelming choice of pastels. I believe it takes a lot of experience to be able to confidently choose the right colors without any advanced planning.

Until we have the many miles of canvas that is required for true intuitive color confidence....an organized palette is the key to success!

A Beautiful Mess!

The day I began to choose my pastel palette before a painting was the day I finally felt in control. It has made all the difference in the world in how I paint. But after a couple of weeks of daily painting and filling all my butcher trays....I am faced with color chaos. Trays filled with pastels used for the past week's paintings are now mixed up and dirty.  I spend a few days working with them like this as a challenge. It makes me work to find the right colors and values. It keeps me on my toes. It is good for a change of pace.

But I don't care to work this way for long periods of time. I like to make sense of a messy palette so I take time to clean each pastel by wiping it off on a soft towel and putting it back in my big box. It is definitely time after the frenzy of the 30 painting challenge!

Messy trays from a month of painting. Time to clean them and put them away!

I used an older unfinished underpainting for today's pastel

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?

Behind the Scenes of a Pastel Workshop

'Quiet Cove'               18x24                  pastel                 ©Karen Margulis
purchase on Etsy $450

I had an awesome weekend in Charlotte North Carolina. My demo and workshop for the Piedmont Pastel Society had been on the calendar for a year so I was excited to finally have the chance to share with them.  The topic we chose was color....Cooking with Color....Moving Beyond Local Color. My goal was to share ways that  I use to help my color choices be more interesting yet still harmonious.

I was hosted by the program chair, Deb Rasberry, a very talented artist and wonderful host. (thank you Deb!) The day of the workshop was beautiful. Its a good thing because we were locked out of the venue and almost had to set up outside!  But the door was opened just in time and the program began as scheduled.

I did three demos for the group. Each one illustrated a different aspect of how I work with color. I'd like to share each of the demos with you this week. I'll start with my last painting!

The demo painting after 15 minutes  18x24    Uart 500

 Since we were Cooking with Color....it was a given that we would use color schemes or 'recipes' for a painting. I issued a challenge exercise. The artists were given one of the tried and true color schemes and they had to choose a limited palette based on the scheme for their painting.  We had the typical schemes such as analogous, complementary and triadic. But also threw in a few unusual schemes such as split complimentary and secondary triad.

My demo was based on a Tertiary Triad of red-orange, yellow-green and blue-violet.

The planning board

 Part of the challenge was to make a plan for the painting. In my demo I shared my planning tools. I began with a black and white thumbnail and a color study.  To select my colors I developed a color recipe worksheet. This allowed me to keep my palette limited and with the range of the color scheme.  The artists were given a color recipe worksheet to help them work out their palettes.

The demo palette

The workshop was so much fun but not long enough! I only had four hours and I had so much to share. I decided to make this last demo a quick one so I allowed only 15 minutes to paint. It was enough to get my point across. (see photo above)

finished in the studio

When I returned home I set up my demo paintings and put in some finishing touches. I spent another 30 minutes on this painting. I worked on the trees and sand and refined the sky and reflections. I kept true to the tertiary triad color scheme.

close up detail

Al of the artists had an hour to do their color scheme exercise. Everyone did a fantastic job. I was happy to challenge this talented group of artists! It was truly a wonderful day!

More behind the scenes reports this week!

How to Move Beyond Local Color

'Time for a Change'             12x16              pastel               ©Karen Margulis  
painting available in my Etsy shop        $165

 We have heard it before. Value does the work and color gets the glory. This means that we should be able to use any colors we want in a painting as long as the values are correct. So we can have purple cows and blue trees and they will be recognizable if we have the values in the right place.

We may know this to be true but how come it can be so difficult to put it into practice? How come it is so challenging sometimes to move beyond the local color? Skies don't always have to be blue and grass isn't always green. Being bold and unafraid can help. Being willing to take risks and try unexpected colors is important. But it doesn't always lead to a successful painting.

There is more to moving beyond local color than just being unafraid of using color. We need to understand how to use colors that are harmonious and work well together.

value underpainitng with a 305 Nupastel and alcohol wash

 In today's private class we played with color. We took a marsh scene and moved it beyond the local colors shown in the reference photo. The marsh grasses were green. The sky was washed out. We wanted to make the colors interesting but still make sense.  It was time for a little color theory and the use of a color wheel.

We talked about the properties of color and the color wheel. We explored the idea of using color schemes for choosing our palette for a painting. We discussed the practice of 'winging it' for color choices vs. having a plan for color. Winging it is exciting and can be fun but it doesn't always lead to a successful painting.

Having a plan for color is the best way for success. Especially when trying to move beyond local color.  My favorite book on color is 'Confident Color' by Nita Leland. It has a wonderful section devoted to the various color schemes that are possible. I love using this book to expand my palette and give me ideas for new color schemes. For today's demo I chose a Low Intensity Modern Triad. I liked this palette and will use it again. It is fun to find new ways to put together color!

The palette used for the painting 

 TIP: Choose a simple subject and plan to paint several versions using a different color scheme for each one. See how your color choices lead to very different results. Choose colors that you wouldn't usually choose.

Paint with 38 Pastels or Less

'Its the Simple Things That Matter'          8x10              pastel              ©Karen Margulis
available for purchase $125

 I have enough pastels. Really I do. It doesn't stop me from having pastel envy though. Whenever a new set comes out or someone shows me a box of new pastels it begins all over again. The desire for more pastels. I don't need any more and I will have to be strong at the candy store at the IAPS Convention in a few weeks.

More pastels mean more choices. That is good but it can also lead to color chaos in a painting. It is sometimes hard to hold back. We want to use them all.....but the truth is Less is More.

The 38 pastels I used for this painting 

Think about it.....if we were mixing paint we wouldn't have hundreds of tubes. We would have a few and we would mix the colors we need. It leads to more harmonious color. Pastels are a bit different. We can physically mix colors the same as liquid paint so we need to have more sticks of color.

But we can take a cue from mixing paint....the idea that a limited palette leads to better color harmony and more unified color. It works for pastels as well. Try limiting the number of pastels you use in a painting. Choose a possible palette in advance. Make sure you have colors that match the values in your painting. (some darks, lights and middle values) When painting, try to reuse colors rather than reach for a new color. It may feel limiting at first but it is truly liberating.

Too many pastels to choose from

TIPS FOR SELECTING A LIMITED PALETTE

• The underpainting colors are important. Choose them first. They will peek through and help unify a painting.
• Select the darks. Look for colors to represent that darkest areas of your painting.
• Choose colors for each element of the painting....sky colors, distant trees, mountain colors and so on. Visualize the colors and values you will need for each element.
• Keep track. Try not to exceed 40 or so pastels in your initial selection.
• If you add colors as you paint keep them out and add them to your tray or pile of pastels.

Read more about using a limited palette in this blog article by James Gurney. click here to read.

How I discovered the Missing Color

'Flowers for Mom'              5x7                pastel              ©Karen Margulis
painting available on Etsy $50

It wasn't very exciting. I tried to use the secret of green to make it more interesting. I did an orange underpainting and added a few purple flowers. It still felt dull to me. It needed to go back to the drawing board.

What could I do to make this little wildflower painting more exciting?  I considered putting more emphasis on the white wildflowers. They all had soft edges so they didn't stand out from the grasses. I could choose a few to clarify and make them stars.  What other options did I have?

Back to the drawing board

 What if I chose to downplay the white flowers. I recalled the wonderful fields of poppies and bluebonnets that I recently saw in Texas. Maybe it would be better to introduce some red poppies into my meadow. So I did.

Still missing something

Now I had red poppies and hints of white flowers. It was still missing something. Bluebonnets! Of course my Texas Spring landscape needed some bluebonnets.  I still didn't feel the painting was finished. I decided to emphasize a few of the poppies. That helped but it was still not there.

What did the painting need? I remembered that the meadows were also filled with tiny yellow flowers. That is the missing color....Yellow!

The missing color was yellow

I sprinkled a few yellow flowers and finally felt good about the painting. Why did the yellow flowers work? The yellow, red and blue created a triadic color scheme. Now my flowers felt balanced. This led to automatic color harmony. It just feels complete.

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