Feel free and let go when applying color~R. D. Burton
You can bring almost any subject to life when using a wider vibrant range of colors than one would normally expect to see. Artwork that shows the use of a variation of colors, tones and values are the ones the average viewer remembers as worthy, and often great.
It’s easy to become comfortable with bright colors if you experiment with them. The best way this artist has found, is to always paint from a black and white photograph. Painting from a color photograph will hinder one from achieving a vivid, bright colorful look. Using black and white photos forces an artist to see only shapes and value changes in the composition. The world of vivid colors is in the imagination of the artist to experiment with. Try this on your next painting: select one object and paint it with most vibrant colors you can. Don’t paint it the way it looks, but make it come alive with exciting colors. Make sure the color changes as the values do; darker, lighter, warmer, cooler and brighter.
We can all take lessons from the great abstract artists of yesterday and today. Although I don’t paint in the abstract method, I have great respect for them because they have been a student of color. The good ones plan, and know just how one color affects the color placed next it. Their precisions seems mathematical, almost musical. This is especially present in some of the works of the original abstract artists; such as, that of Wassily Kandinsky in his painting: Munich-Schwabing with the Church of St. Ursula.
Creating contrast by keeping your darks dark and your lights light, or placing contrasting colors next to each other can also make for an exciting, vivid, colorful painting. Experimenting with, and learning to mix your own grays can make for a successful and vibrating painting. You can actually create super-darks that are far richer than neutral tube colors.
Hopefully, this article will inspire some of you to experiment and go deeper, higher, and open up your creativity to be free and let go!
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