Three exercises in warm vs. cool

Learning what can be done with different colors is really important when you approach a studio painting. You must have a color strategy that works together in order to have an effective painting. This is called color harmony and is accomplished by selecting a limited palette then deciding the predominant color. The three paintings here are all limited palettes. The first uses ivory black, yellow ochre and venetian red with titanium white. The predominant color is ivory black as you might have guessed. Of note, the undertone of the work is done in a mix of burnt umber and yellow ochre.

The second work is worked in naples yellow, yellow ochre, alizarin, ultramarine blue and titanium white. Here the predominant color is yellow. The underpainting was set in yellow ochre.

The third work has an underpainting of cadimium red light with a pallette of cad. yellow , cad. red light, ultramarine and titanium white. The predominant color here is violet. These exercises help to understand what mood one creates when using these colors and how to vary warm and cool to provide balance.