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Thursday, November 18, 2010

3-color study-class demo




watercolor 7 x 11

This is a little demo that I did for my students last week. The assignment was to use a limited palette. I gave them three colors: Neutral Tint, Venetian Red, and Raw Sienna. They used a composition from their own sketchbooks. They found this to be fun and the critiques that we had in the classes proved that it was worth trying.

Try it, you might like it too!!

7 comments:

pc said...

I think limited palette helps one to concentrate more on tones than get carried away by hues..
right ?

Elizabeth Seaver said...

What a great exercise--and it makes for wonderful finished paintings too, as you have shown us here. Limiting the palette is such a good way to get back to the basics of value.

Unknown said...

I just know how you get so beautiful landscapes, you make them in four steps and I used to make it in eight. MPDR. I also like to paint with a limited palette, with only 15 or 20 colors. MPDR,
I like how you craftily put the darker background highlighting the barn. I also envy you the grass, especially because I never get to paint it satisfactorily. Now, I'm going to paint a watercolor to avoid my envy.

irinasztukowski said...

Amazing that three colors were enough to show the beauty of the Fall Kathy.

I love this peaceful landscape.

Thank you,
Irina

Rogério Santana said...

It's really nice indeed. I love it when there are few colors. The atmosphere is great.

V. Deshmukh said...

Beautiful demo. Very educative and inspiring. Thanks

Kathy said...

Hi All...
@ pc..yes. it really does help.
@ Elizabeth...and yes...good to get back to basics.
@ Julian...So now you know my secrets and I know yours. It is cheaper to use less colors. MPDR
I am looking forward to your next wc.
@ Irene...lots of the masters used a limited palette. These are good colors for fall.
@ Rogero...These colors worked out well for this assignment.
@ Vinayak...glad you like the wip demo.
Thanks all!!