Bird & Sunrise photo

Bird & Sunrise photo
Because "someday" is today!

Saturday, November 30, 2019

The Perfect Pair for Fall

One last entry for the this year's series on painting with only a primary color and their secondary as the color palette. I have to say, this last pair of blue and orange turned out to be my favorite.

Palette colors, Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Orange and Titanium White.

I chose Ultramarine blue and Cadmium orange and found that they were very versatile when mixed together. The addition of Titanium white resulted in a wide palette of useful colors.

Palette colors, Ultramarine Blue, Cadmium Orange and Titanium White mixed samples.


A couple of ideas immediately came to mind to sketch out using these colors. Pumpkins, of course.


Pumpkin Sketch, Ultramarine Blue and Cadmium Orange ©2019 Tina M.Welter

A landscape inspired by memories of the pinion and scrub oak trees of New Mexico.

Landscape Sketch, Ultramarine Blue and Cadmium Orange ©2019 Tina M.Welter

The blue tones also made me think of a wintery sunset on the Oregon coast. I searched through my photo reference and found the perfect image from when we stayed at a condo at Otter rock, December 2016.

December View from Otter Rock condo ©2016 Tina M.Welter

Using a very light pencil lines, I made a basic grid in thirds on my 5x7 watercolor paper and made a few light sketch lines of the clouds. When painting with acrylics, it's good to remember that heavy pencil lines can become "trapped" under the paint where they are not easily erased.


5x7 watercolor paper with light grid lines photo by Tina M.Welter

Working light to dark, I used lighter tones to sketch in the basic shapes and colors and also set the horizon line at the bottom third of the painting.


View From Otter Rock painting step one ©2019 Tina M.Welter

Next, I used darker tones to add drama and contrast.

View From Otter Rock painting step two ©2019 Tina M.Welter

Last, I added more details using the lightest tones to shape the clouds and waves. I also strengthened the pure blue and orange colors at the horizon. That was fun!

View From Otter Rock painting step three ©2019 Tina M.Welter

I think the simplest thing to remember from this experiment of mixing primary colors and their secondary color is that you will always get the most interesting shades of grey. That might not sound impressive, but when painting it's often what is going on in the shadows that really make the highlights shine and gives a sense of warmth and depth to a subject. I really don't need black very often, if at all. Put that tube of Mars Black down and try mixing those wonderful dark colors yourself.

Happy Creating!

>^-^<
Tina 

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