January 11th, 2005 | Category:
I spoke at length with my techniques professor at UP fine arts, Prof. Bacaltos.
I asked him all sorts of questions regarding composition, color temperature rhythm, and basically planning a painting.
One topic that I fortunately remembered to ask was about color schemes. From books, magazines, and school I’ve learned several color schemes…. monochromatic, complementary, analagous, triad (primary, secondary, tertiary), off-triad, tetrads (2 complementaries). With so many color schemes to choose from, how do you know which one is best for a particular painting?
Experience was one answer. (Personally I haven’t painted enough.) The other that was implied from the understanding that the overall mood of a painting is affected by the color scheme. Which goes to say that the color scheme applied at the onset of painting defines much of the piece’s final “feel“.
Given that the colors emote different “feelings“, using the simple color schemes like complementary, analogous, or monochromatic – allows even the inexperienced painter to express clearer his/her emotions. The other schemes though may be a little more challenging as they require multiple colors each expressing sometimes dissimilar emotions. That’s my opinion on the matter.
I also posed the question on whether or not one should limit one’s use of the colors in one’s selected color scheme in a painting. Of course the answer was no. Selecting a color scheme doesn’t limit you to only its colors; nevertheless the colors in the scheme should remain dominant overall.
I followed up by asking if that meant applying this color scheme earlier in the painting (ie. underpainting). To which Prof. Bacaltos replied affirmatively.
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