This is a color study of compliments.
Are you with me? The opposite of purple on the color wheel is??? ….You got it! Yellow.
In actuality there are many shades and many layers to this painting.
I started with a periwinkle blue, added dioxazine purple, then ultramarine blue, paynes gray, and finally black. For the background I started with lemon yellow, sap green, burnt sienna, cadmium orange, cadmium yellow, and raw sienna.
I just realized there are a second group of compliments at work here. OK. The opposite of blue on the color wheel is??? Orange. I hope you all got that correct. Pat yourselves on the back!
Layer after layer, allowing the water to blend and move the colors, this tree like branch began to emerge. It is organic in form because I allowed the paint to take me where it wanted to go.
In summation, there are two sets of compliments at work: Purple/Yellow & Blue/Orange.
Why use compliments so dramatically? To create visual stimulation and movement of course. If colors are equal but opposite on the color wheel your eyes do not know where to focus or settle, which creates the stimulation. If you had an entirely neutral painting and added just one color, your eyes would settle there. But you know me. More is more! I don’t want your eyes to rest in a little corner of an image I want them to beg for sunglasses, or maybe a nap!
It’s a perfect day for this image because everything is cold and white outside. Inside by my fire, this painting is illuminating my insides, which is just what I wanted.
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