Color: From Boring to Brilliant! | Instructor, Patti Mollica ©Patti Mollica

Homework assigment Week 1:

Colorful Greys and Color Scheme Introduction

The goal of this exercise is to encourage students to mix colors that are harmonized, unified and work together - no matter what colors are mixed. The #1 problem with color in paintings is that the colors don’t relate because they don’t share the same “color genes”. By mixing a multitude of colors from just 3 colors (plus white) students will mix beautiful rich colors that all work together because there is a bit of each color in every mixture.

Exercise 1:
Colorful Greys Color Chart, non-formula approach
You will be making a chart of “colorful greys” in random colors and values

Pencil in a grid of squares approx. 1”x1” on a canvasboard or panel - 8x10 or larger such as 11x14 will yield more squares.

Create swatches of colorful greys. Use the following 3 primary colors in each mixture plus white: Thalo Blue, Quinacridone Magenta, Cadmium or Hansa Yellow light and Titanium White.

ALL 3 Primary colors must be in each mixture, plus as much titanium white as you choose. Use all three colors in any proportion you wish. The only MUST is that all 3 primaries must be in each color mixture. Fill up all the grids with various colors. It can be random, no formulaic approach.

Try to get a range of light, middle and a few dark values. Also aim for some duller (neutral) greys and also a variety of more colorful greys. Leave a little white around each color so that the colors don’t butt up right next to each other.

See example below. If your colors are too neutral for your taste, try making more vivid colors by adjusting the proportions of the colors. The level of saturation depends on the proportion of the colors you are mixing together.

For more instruction, watch Demo: Colorful Greys Grid

Exercise 2:
Using the reference image below, create 4 or more paintings in the neutral “colorful greys”. Remember to use all 3 primaries plus white in your mixtures, in any proportion. It’s important to match the values of the photo. Values are the lightness or darkness of the image. I.e. if an area of the photo is light, paint that area with a light color.

The reference photos are in b/w. This is to encourage students to work in any colors they want. Explore!

For more instruction: Read “Mother Color”
There is not a lot of information on the web about Mother Colors. Read this article to learn about this very important technique.

Exercise 3:
Create a chart that harmonizes palette colors using greys as “mother colors”.
Using only 3 colors will assure color harmony and unity. But what if you like to use many colors on your palette? In order to make sure they all “play nicely” together, they need a common-color denominator to give them unity. By adding one common color to ALL your colors, this assures they will have some relation to each other. This common color is called a “Mother Color”.

Mother Color Chart
A “mother color” is a unifying color that is added to all colors and creates harmony. In this exercise we are using colorful greys as mother colors.

Directions:
Pencil in a grid of squares. Mix up 4 “batches” of mid-value grey Mother Colors:

Neutral grey: Burnt Sienna, Ultramarine blue and White
Violet grey: Ultramarine + Burnt Sienna + Quin. Magenta + White
Blue grey: Ultramarine (more) + Burnt Sienna (less) and White
Red grey: Ultramarine (less) + Burnt Sienna (more) White

Paint a swatch of your mother colors in a column on the left, and a swatch of whatever palette colors you like across the top. Create a chart of colors by mixing each of your mother colors in with each of your palette colors in about a 30/70 ratio: 30% grey mother color to 70% palette color. Use whatever colors you normally have on your palette. The image below shows my palette colors, and I used a 50/50% ratio. You may have more or less colors on your palette.

To see a **lighter value version** of your mixtures, add some white into each grey mother color and add those lighter greys to each palette color. This will create the bottom 4 rows.

Bonus Exercise: If you have a painting that resulted in colors that you weren’t happy with, repaint it - but using mother colors in your mixtures. See what the results are, and post the before/after in the FB group so your classmates can see!

Exercise 4: Colorful Coffee Cups in Color Schemes*

The goal of this exercise is to use the color wheel to pick the colors and color schemes you want to work in, and explore how colors relate to each other based on their positions on the wheel.

This assignment can be painted on an 18x24” canvasboard to accomdate 12 paintings. The measurements below are for 18x24”. Draw a grid, lightly, on your canvasboard. Use the 5”x5” reference for the coffee cup image and the guideline below. 12 squares will fit on 18x24 size.

While you are painting, keep the b/w PHOTO of the coffee cup in front of you. Try to match the tonal values to your colors. I.e. where the photo is dark, use dark colors, where light, use light colors, etc. This is an example of a finished assignment. Use your own color choices

See: Coffee Cup Reference

There is a coffee cup “tracing image” you can use. With a scissors, cut out this image and trace (or draw freehand) onto your canvas. An easy way to trace is to apply charcoal or pastel to the back of the image. Then place the image down on top of each box on the canvasboard and draw on top of the outlines with a pen or pencil. It will leave a faint image on your canvas (like using carbon paper).

In each one of the boxes, paint the coffee cup in these 12 color different schemes going from left to right - in the order they are listed below. I.e. Monochromatic is in top left box, Analogous is in next box to the right, then complimenary, etc.

Monochromatic Analogous Complimentary Triad

Tetrad Split complementary Analogous Comp All Neutral

Neutral & Saturated All Saturated High Key Anything Goes

See the “12 Color Schemes”

You do NOT have to work in the 3 primaries from the chart exercise unless you want to. In other words, feel free to use your entire palette of colors. You can use whichever color schemes you choose. I.e. your complementary colors can be violet/yellow, or orange/blue, etc. Your triad can be red, yellow blue, or red-orange/Blue violet/ yellow-green. etc. They must be based on the color wheel. Remember, you can use all the tints, shades and tone colors of the hues you are working in.

Its OK if some other colors enter into your painting that aren’t exactly part of your color scheme - as long as they don’t compete or dominate the colors that are actually part of the scheme. Make sure the overall main colors are those you chose for a scheme.

See “Demo: Trace the Coffee Cup”

Take your time to do all the exericises in this lesson, you won’t be sorry!