Color Study: Complimentary Hues
I’m taking a 5-week class on color theory right now at my local university. It’s a lot of concepts I’ve encountered before, but today’s lesson on complimentary colors (colors that are opposite on the color wheel) really got me going. I’d forgotten how beautiful it is to pair blue and orange, red and green, or yellow and purple!
We did a quick, 30-minute painting where we were only allowed to use a complimentary pair and white. I chose blue-violet and yellow-orange and did a quick painting of a bell pepper. It’s amazing how many colors you can make when you’re starting with only two hues!
Related Posts:
The last few weeks…
…have been a busy blur of painting and wedding planning. The fiance and I finally managed to schedule an engagement photoshoot with our photographer, and we braved the 40 degree spring weather in our sweaters to snap a few photos on Madison’s lake Mendota. That’s right — it was April, and the lake was still frozen solid. We’re definitely cloud + rain people, so I was happy we got an overcast day.
I’ve also been super busy painting two of the largest pet portraits I’ve ever worked on. Painting on a large scale is a completely different experience, and it’s also super fun! As soon as I was done, I order several more large canvases online so that I can make these really big paintings a more regular thing. What do you think?
Unfortunately, my crazy schedule doesn’t seem like it’ll be calming down anytime soon. I only have a couple days left to prepare for an art show that I’m doing here in Madison this coming Sunday. If you’re in the area, you should definitely stop by!
Have a great weekend, everyone!
Related Posts:
Deep blues and vibrant greens
After the success of choosing the color red for our weekly painting challenge, we decided to circle back around to the other side of the color wheel and do a painting in blue.
Blue and I go way back. In fact, I’ve been using shades of Ultramarine and Pthalo in the backgrounds of my pet portraits for as long as I’ve been painting them. There’s something so rich about pairing auburn and golden fur against a saturated blue…
For this painting, I decided to pair the hue with another summer-time favorite, the avocado. I prepared a background using tints of three types of blue (warm, neutral, and cool), and then adding a buttery halved avocado to the foreground. This painting feels far more graphic than others I’ve done in the past, but I kind of like it!
My painting buddy, Sheila approached the challenge through exploring complimentary colors. I love what she’s done!
I’ve just posted it for sale in my shop, if you’re interested!
Related Posts:
Dreaming of summer
This morning I woke up to the one billionth snowfall of the year. Curse you, Midwestern winters! Here I am ready for sun dresses, swimming, and sipping lemonade, and instead I’m handed another week of shivering, shoveling, and snow.
This week’s painting challenge was to paint a piece of fruit. So instead of opting for the apples and pears filling the fruit aisle of my local grocery store, I managed to track down a couple a pretty peaches to pose for my painting. And for three glorious hours, I forgot about the frigid landscape and lost myself in a golden peach.
It’s only 99 days until summer, folks.
Check out what my painting partner did with this week’s assignment. Stunning, right?
If you’d like to purchase this painting, it’s for sale in my shop for $99. It could make a mighty nice mother’s day gift…just sayin’
Related Posts:
Oh My Handmade Goodness
Shine by Yahoo
Pretty Fluffy: Life, Style & Fluffy Dogs
Good Life Northwest
When I Grow Up
Phetched: Where form and function meet Fido
Moxy Magazine: For women with big cojones...And bigger dreams
Melissa Tuck: Photography
Ecstatic Circles
Monica McCarthy: Life Stylista
Uncaged
Meredith Jaeger
Linda Merrill
Screaming Sardine: Artisan Interview
The Clean Platter
Smiling Cat Studio