Lesson 5, "100 Drawings"

We are now halfway through the ten-week on-line class with Jane Davies, and the topic for the week is "colour".

#1

Our assignment was to produce ten studies in colour. And they were to read as colour studies, not shape or line or pattern studies.

We were to choose 3 or 4 colours for each one, and to use any format we liked: landscape, shapes on a background, interlocking shapes, grid, stripes, etc.  We were to cover our page with paint, then apply a coat of matte medium and go back in to add texture, using paint, watercolour crayons or oil pastels. (I didn't add much texture. I was already getting more texture than the instructions called for as I often smeared the paint on with my fingers, using glazing medium to smooth out the colour transitions.)

Much of the work for the lesson is the commentary required for each piece. Which colours did you use? What was the range of value for each colour? Was there a range of hue? Range of saturation? How did the colours relate to each other? Were they complementary (opposite each other on the colour wheel) or analogous (next to each other on the colour wheel)? Warm or cool? Were they your go-to colours, or did you take the opportunity to try something new?

I will not bore you with all the tedious commentary, but will include a few notes.

My approach to the first three was identical. In #1 above, I chose violet for the top edge and transitioned to yellow near the bottom. Mixing complementary colours like violet and yellow produces rich browns. At the bottom edge I added white to some of the intermediate neutral browns, and finished it off with a few lines of yellow crayon atop the yellow stripe.

#2

#2 was made the same way, beginning with cyan (blue) at the top edge, transitioning to orange near the bottom. A few random lines of orange crayon reinforce the orange band of colour.

#3

Likewise #3, beginning with green at the top and gradating to the very saturated red below, followed by a few tints of red lightened by white. The takeaway for these first three explorations is that brilliant colours look even more brilliant when surrounded by less saturated colours.

#4

Still in landscape mode, #4 used four cool, analogous colours. The "sky" had a gradation from violet to cyan, both tinted with white. The "hill" transitioned from turquoise-blue to chrome green. Little value contrast (dark/light) in the piece as a whole.

#5

Much more value contrast for landscape #5. The "sky" gradated from cyan to yellow, and the "hill" gradated from yellow to chrome green. The middle left offers the area of highest value contrast (dark-light), with the blue against the yellow.

#6

I couldn't resist the temptation any longer and chose blue and green to make a landscape in #6. The sky begins with blue at the top and is mixed with increasing amounts of white (range of value). There is an abrupt break at the skyline, where the green hill transitions in hue to the blue sea.

#7

Enough with the landscape format. On to shapes on a background. #7 features a turquoise-blue sphere, most saturated on its outside edge and least saturated in its centre. The background is a gradation from tints of violet to tints of blue. All cool, analogous colours.

#8

In #8, the background is tints of grey, and the right-hand sphere is red on its outer edge, mixed with increasing amounts of white towards its centre. The sphere on the left has a turquoise-blue outer edge, transitioning to a blue centre. The red is a warm colour, and the turquoise is cool, though they are not true complements.

#9

The last two feature only one main hue, celadon*, which is made by adding black to yellow. Varying amounts of white and black create variations in the value. I think of celadon as straddling the border between warm and cool colours, depending on the amount of yellow in the mix, and on what colour  is beside it. #9 has an accent of warm red, and #10 an accent of blue. These tiny accents provide contrast of hue, value and saturation.

* I understand that there are differing opinions about what the colour "celadon" looks like. For some, the word "celadon" means a greyed-down blue-green. For others, (Martha Stewart for one!) it can include a greyed-down yellow-green.

#10

I quite like the sophisticated, edgy combinations of colour in these last two.  May just use them in a future piece. Sometimes hours of hard slogging on an assignment actually uncovers real "gold".