Find Possibilities in Color Schemes with Peggi Habets
You find a photo you love. You work diligently to match the colors you see. And then when you finish your painting, all the colors just feel… off.
Your painting lacks color harmony and you’re not sure why.
Ep.4 guest Peggi Habets has a solution.
Instead of only using the colors you see in your reference (known as the local color) you can choose your colors ahead of time based on a color scheme.
For example you could use analogous colors, which means you’d only choose colors from the same side of the color wheel.
Or you could use a complementary color scheme where you use opposite colors on the color wheel.
Remember, as long as you get your values correct, you can do a LOT with color and your viewer will still know what they are looking at.
Using color schemes is great for finished paintings or as an exercise to help you get more confident with color.
Put it to Practice:
In her workshops, Habets suggests you try three different color schemes to help them explore their color possibilities:
The first is with local color. The color you see in your scene.
The second is with a color scheme that you feel you can trust.
And the third is with a crazy color scheme. Something you’d never think would work.
Try them all and see how each of them feels. By pushing beyond your comfort, you’ll begin to see new color possibilities for your work.