Painting Outdoors on a Full Pallet Field Day

An artist, inspired to paint the Gothic and Florentineblue", supported the warm, sunny part of the
architecture out on location in Prague, must choosecomposition and harmonized with the cerulean
among an almost limitless range of subtle colors tomixtures in the architecture.
use. In this medieval city there are cooler huedTo see how easy it is to find and select
buildings of stone with grayed lavenders, greens andcomplementary, split complementary and other color
blue browns. There are also warmer toned surfacescombinations, Rod Cameron suggests to artists to
with ochre, yellows and oranges. Add to this anmake or get a hold of a simple color wheel, found at
eclectic, no-rules range of color on many of theany art supplier. And just dial up a color. In the case
building's newly renovated surfaces, and you have aof Rod Cameron's painting of St. Michelos in Prague,
genuine, full palate field day! An artist needs to decidehe pointed to orange on the color wheel, as his initial
how to achieve color harmony in the shapes andreference point, for the sunny surfaces of the
nuances depicting these historic treasures, if theirCathedral. The compliment of orange is ultramarine
next best painting is going to be a success.blue, but Cameron chooses the split complimentary;
Artist, Rod Cameron, reveals the secrets behind histhe colors that you find on either side of blue. The
choices of color in the painting titled, "St. Micheloscolor wheel beautifully illustrates, lavenders on one
Cathedral - Prague". Notice how he breaks downside, and blues with a touch of viridian green on the
color into groups of "warm" and "cool".other side; the split complimentary colors that Rod
He tells students, "I saw the two towers in the sunCameron uses in the painting.
as "warmer" mixtures: the thinner, taller steeple aTouches of your warm mixtures in your cool colors,
mixture of cerulean blue and burnt sienna with white,and visa versa, will slightly gray things down, and go
and the main domed building a mixture of yellowfurther to create great color harmony in your
ochre and burnt sienna with white."painting. The use of split complementary colors adds
Using these warm hues as a reference point,a greater range of color and more variety in your
Cameron uses a split complementary, which indicatedpainting without sacrificing harmony.
blues and lavenders, with touches of viridian greenColor wheels are inexpensive and give the artist a
for the shadows and in the street buildings on eitherbetter understanding of the color families and how
side. These cooler shadow colors frame the scenethey relate to each other. Even after you've
and provide exact compliments to the warm hues ofmemorized all the color combinations, it still fun to
the cathedral in the sunlight.refer to now and then, plus, the wheel just looks
To further enhance the warm atmosphere in thecool hanging on the wall. Every studio should have
sunny part of this painting, the artist mixed ceruleanone!
blue into the sky. Cerulean blue, being the "warmer