A LITTLE COLOR THEORY. THE CHROMATIC CIRCLE
Hello again, dear readers!
Today we are going to talk a bit about color theory and for that we are going to need the downloadable that I published last week. I leave you the link to the post so that you have it at hand before starting.
Although at the end of the post you have the video explaining what I am doing at all times, then I am going to tell you step by step what each of the three experiments will consist of.
EXPERIMENT 1: CHOOSING OUR FAVORITE COLORS
For this first experiment, I suggest you choose your favorite colours, those red, yellow and blue tones that most attract your attention.
In my case I have chosen DARK CADMIUM RED by Winsor & Newton, NAPLES YELLOW by Sennelier and LAVENDER by Holbein.
As you have seen, they are not the typical colors of the rainbow, but rather some colors that I wanted to combine to see what mixes I could get.
I want you to do the same, I want you to open your watercolor palette and choose three colors (a red, a yellow and a blue) and fill in the first of the color circles with these mixtures.
You may be having trouble getting a cool purple color. It could be that your purple is dull, dirty or even brown. This is due to the choice of red that you have made.
Let me explain: if your red is warm (tends to orange; ORANGE = YELLOW + RED), when mixing it with BLUE we will be mixing the three primary colors and, what is the result of mixing the three primary colors? Indeed, brown (or even black if the pigments are of very good quality).
However, if your red is cold (tends to purple; PURPLE = RED + BLUE), and we mix it with BLUE, we are NOT adding yellow to the mix and therefore the resulting shade will be purple.
You may be wondering, okay, and how do I know if a red is cold or warm? I asked myself this question when I started in this whole world and it was hard for me to find a rule that would help me with the problem, in fact, it still happens to me with certain shades of red😅.
My rule is simple, I ask myself the following question: do I consider this red to be more "pink" than red? if the answer is yes, then it is cold and can be mixed with blue to make a cool purple. It may seem a bit convoluted, but it works for me the vast majority of the time.
EXPERIMENT 2: A CLASSIC CHROMATIC CIRCLE. single pigment colors
Now we will repeat the same process but with three monopigment colors. What does this mean? Well, we have to choose three colors whose composition is only a pigment.
In my case I have chosen as YELLOW, Sennelier Aureolina (PY40); as BLUE, Daniel Smith Cobalt Blue (PB28); and as RED/MAGENTA, Winsor & Newton Permanent Alizarin Crimson (PR179).
It is not necessary that you use these same colors, any monopigment color from your palette will do. Of course, pay attention to red / magenta 😉
If we compare the two previous results, it can be seen with the naked eye that the colors of this second experiment are much more vibrant and saturated. Also, the colors of the first experiment are more pastel due to the white color of Lavender and Naples Yellow.
Now it's time to talk a little about color theory. In summary, we will ask ourselves two questions:
What colors are complementary?
If we look at the chromatic circle, the complementary colors are the ones that are facing each other. For example, Cobalt Blue and orange, or Permanent Alizarin Crimson and green.
Complementary colors are used to accentuate certain compositionally important elements. For example, if we are painting a meadow in green tones, we can add touches of red pigment to hint at flowers and thus give them more prominence in the work.
What colors are ANALOGOUS?
Analogous colors are those that are on the sides of the color in question on the color wheel. For example, the analogous colors of Aureolina yellow are yellowish greens and oranges.
Using similar colors in our illustrations makes it easier to arouse certain emotions in the viewer. If we use cold colors such as purple, blue or greenish blue, we can feel nostalgic, cold, fear, peace,... (it depends a lot on what we are painting, obviously).
If, on the contrary, we use red, orange and yellow, we can feel embarrassment, heat, jubilation, joy,...
Depending on what we want to transmit, we will have to use some color harmonies or others.
And after this little pill of color theory, we are going to continue with the third and last experiment.
EXPERIMENT 3: ANDERS ZORN'S CHROMATIC CIRCLE
I discovered this color palette thanks to the Valencian artist Ale Casanova. A few months ago he came to Albacete to do a workshop on watercolor portraits and, of course, I went to enjoy the experience.
The colors that make up this palette are BLACK, YELLOW OCHER, and LIGHT CADMIUM RED.
To transfer these colors to watercolor, Ale made a small change, substituting black for DE PAYNE GRAY in order to achieve more interesting greens. Remember that Payne's gray is a bluish-black shade.
Once the entire chromatic circle is colored with all the mixtures, we can see how peculiar this color palette is. It doesn't have blues, but nevertheless we got very cool greens. And what about the purple ones? They are wonderful.
IF you have come this far, you will already be aware of everything we can achieve with only three colors.
I encourage you to do this exercise with as many colors as you can think of. It can even help when we find ourselves on those days when we are not very inspired or feel blocked.
I hope you have a great week, see you next week.
Bye!!