In the mood for colour
More on the watercolour theme this week as I’ve been teaching colour theory. It may not sound that exciting, but I’m easily pleased and love the way that you can take three bright primary colours and make a colour wheel (or in this case, colour splodge…..)
and then the most clever bit of all, mixing three bright primaries together and ending up with the softest dappled grey…..
Careful with the red. Red is a bit of a bully and a little goes a long way. The secret to a dappled colour is to let the paint mix on the page, don’t stir it into a homogenised gloop on the palette. Where damp colours touch they’ll do their own thing. Here’s a one minute seascape…..
How’s that for a very potted colour theory lesson! Blended greys are so much nicer than tube greys. If you want to mix some gorgeous dark greys and blacks, try cadmium red plus winsor blue or burnt sienna plus ultramarine. Too brown? Add more blue. Too grey? Add more red.