Putting Sparkle into Your Colours - Painting & Drawing Tips

Planning Finished. . . .       Decisions Made. . . .    Ready to begin.  . .   

Flushed with excitement I started mixing paint, I was confident success would be mine.  Do you feel that way with each new project? Engulfed in that glow of inspiration, the goal shining over you.

Then suddenly at some point in the process it dims. . . . . 

Petunias & Hummingbird - 14 x 11, matted unframed $225 

That's what happened to me.

I know, you are saying but look, there is your nice picture, and it looks great.  BTW, thanks for those thoughts, I glad you like it.  In the end I am happy too but there was a moment in the process when I was very unhappy.  

Cropped Picture: WIP  Note the lack of sparkle in my petunias

My pretty pink petunias did not have a sparkle.  I had painted my hummingbird, some leaves and decided to try one of the flowers.  I tried shadowing with a red purple.  I used my compliment of permanent rose to gray it and make the petals bend.  I even tried a bit of red to bend the petals. Yes, they are bending but no sparkle.  Not looking good. I didn't panic, I fiddle more with leaves and their shadows thinking the neigbouring colours needed some work.

Still no sparkle . . .

In a last effort for success,  I lifted some colour to get a brighter highlight. (at the same time knowing I didn't want it so bright)  It helped but still not there.  Disappointing. Time for RESEARCH!!!

I found some helpful info . . .

I know this may not be profound for you and I am sure I have heard it many times but this time it resonated with me. There is the Mixing Complement of a colour, this is one we all know.  Mixing Green with Red, its complement, neutralizes the colours and results in a black or dark gray. Other examples of mixing compliments are yellow/purple and orange/blue.  I thought about them all the time as I worked on my picture.  

However, my pinks weren't happy.  Nor was I.  

As I read further, I began to understand there were Visual Complements.  A Visual Complement  enhances the colour.  They make a pair of colours more vibrant when they are painted together. When they are mixed together they will produce a colourless gray.   Now you have new pairs to think of.  These are Visual complements like red/turquoise, cyan/orange, yellow/blue.  This mean that my pink needed a more turquoisey colour, Winsor Green.  I found Hilary Page's Explanation really spoke to me and the light finally came on.  I know this is something I will have to work with more but for now I jumped on it.  Note the change in my final picture with the cropped one.  My greens are definitely different.   (See Hilary's Article here)

Note the Yellow with its Mixing Complement Purple and with its Visual Complement Blue.  Quite a difference, eh?! The yellow really sparkles more with the blue. 

Hilary has put together a visual chart showing how the Visual Complements look together. I have included it here for you to get a feel of what it is about.  I can see even on the chart that there is a real sparkle between the colour pairs.  

A Visual Complements Charts by Hilary Page 

Visual Complements in Action . . .

I was very much reminded of these visual colour complements in action when I attended Guo Pei Show at the Vancouver Art Gallery this week.  Her fashion show for MAC Cosmetics was Sparkling.  (of course her use of colour was only one reason for the sparkle)  It had a Garden theme, her yellows and blues weaved through the clothing certainly played a roll in making everything sparkle. 

Note the bright blues and yellows connecting the pieces

Her style is distinctive but her purpose was to capture you, to make you feel excitement in the product, its sparkle: fresh, clean, bright, new, exciting, and much more. 

Don't you just love it. 

She definitely caught my eye with her fashion.  I know, nothing I would ever wear but ooooo. . . so interesting.  

Art in a different form but still very much Art. 

It was exciting to see how she used the same kind techniques I use in my paintings to draw attention to my subject.  But seeing the visual complements in action was a definite "A..ha Moment" for me.  

This post is a follow up post to my previous one: "Make Those Pictures Count" .  See it to read more on the planning progress of this painting.  

Next up: Build a Background, from abstract to realism. 

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Artists reading this post also find the following valuable:

Matching Colours to Values here
Playing with a Very Limited Watercolour Palette here
3 Ways to Turn Drawing Despair into Action here

How to Find your Starting Point here

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Have a great Artful Day,

Wendy