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Creative Sketchbook, Module 1

Chapter 2, Activity 2.3

Use analogous colours to paint harmonious patterns

 

First Attempt: Analogous colours are those in three adjoining sections of the colour wheel, so they share a base colour. I decided on red, red violet and violet – then, for some unknown reason, went ahead using red, violet and blue! What was I thinking?

And to make matters worse, I thought this would be a good opportunity to use acrylics instead of watercolours, because I thought they would like bright and vibrant, and suit this kind of pattern. However, it took a while getting used to them, because they are thicker than water colours, and dry very quickly. I found they were more difficult to mix than watercolours, and when creating tints and shades they seemed to need more white and black than I anticipated, and I didn’t always get the variation in colour that I wanted. As I went along I got better at gauging how wet the paintbrush should be, but the overall effect is a bit patchy. Actually, I quite like the patchy effect, and the colours… it’s just a shame they’re not analogous.  
 

Second Attempt: I tried this again, with watercolours (ultramarine and alizarin), hoping to produce red violet, violet and blue violet, but I lost the plot completely and have no idea where I went wrong… Instead of the colours I envisaged I got greys and a very dull brownish purple.

Third Time Lucky: Cracked it! I’m happier with this, apart from the fact that my yellow turned green when I added black to get a darker shade, and I only used a very, very small amount. I went back to the acrylics this time around, and mixed yellow and red, for orange, yellow orange, and yellow, and I watered them all down a little bit, with the teeniest amount of water, to make them easier to work with.