Challenge at Daily Paintworks

January 20, 2014

I remembered to do the challenge on Daily Paintworks.  It turned out to be harder than I thought.  I spent most of my time trying to get the eye right.  Once I got the darks in, it turned out all right.
I decided to stick with the tertiary colors doing this one, a favorite color scheme of mine, used even to make the black.  I just used the three colors magenta, blue-green and yellow-orange.  (more about that on earlier blogs)

Here is a link to the challenge so you can try it.  The photo is provided and it is a good lesson in understanding value.

Link

Available at Daily Paintworks or ETSY - 6 x 6 - oil on panel

Tertiary Colors

September 8, 2013

Another good reason to do the 30 day challenge is that you make new discoveries and try new things.  It is sort of a journey where one thing leads to another even if it is by accident.

On day 6 I did a painting of three paint tubes using tertiary colors of blue-green, magenta and yellow orange.  The neutral in the background uses those three colors.  (Another benefit of the challenge is that another artist doing the challenge pointed that out to me in her comment in yesterday's blog and thank you to her).    It did create a harmony in the painting by using just those three colors. 

So on Day 7 I thought I would try just using those three colors again, but this time the painting was very high key with pinks.  I used temperature changes for contrast, but kept everything pastel.  For the longest time I have been trying to figure out how an artist I admire named Nancy Frankel achieves using light values that show contrast.  I think it might be with temperature changes.  Check out her work. 

In my painting for today, I'm going to test out this theory. 

Day 6 has strong values, there are temperature changes here, too. 

Day 7 has tighter values,  but used temperature changes a lot.  Plus I  only used magenta, blue-green and yellow-orange just like the colors above. 

TIDBit:  I remember reading somewhere that you should use the colors left on your palette for your signature to make it harmonious with the painting.  That is why you see the magenta used in the one below.  Of course I forgot to sign the one above.  I do that all the time.