June 20, 2023
Back in January I declared 2023 my Year of Color. For Christmas I received four different books about color, including a great little workbook that I am still making my way through.
Explorations of color are some of my favorite sketchbook activities.
This week, I flipped through a couple fashion magazines looking for color palettes that I liked. I then cut the photos out, glued them into my sketchbook, and proceeded to try and mix the colors in each photo. I made little notes about what I mixed for each hue. I like to include the pigment color number, since different brands may use different color names. In this particular page, I had a little call back to last week - I tried raw umber to muddy up bright primary blue just enough to match the pants in the picture - and it worked!
In addition to understanding color better, I would like to be more exacting about how I use color. Little color matching exercises like this help me get better at mixing the precise colors I want, and also help to train my eye.
The Color Books:
A Field Guide to Color: A Watercolor Workbook, by Lisa Solomon
The Secret Lives of Color, by Kasia St. Clair
What is Color? by Arielle & Joann Eckstut
Color: A Visual History from Newton to Modern Color Matching Guides, by Alexandra Loske
Prompts for the Week:
What colors do you like to surround yourself with - your clothing and in your home? Is this reflected in your art? How do you use color? Are you happy with your understanding of it?
Explore with white. Mix titanium white with different hues to see if you can come up with a favorite white that leans warm and a favorite that leans cool. I love a warm white (my favorite is titanium white with just a drop of burnt sienna) next to ultramarine blue in a painting. The warm/cool contrast gives it a little extra zing.
Do you have any books about color that you love? Please share in the comments! I love a book recommendation!