Well, I’ve finally finished my colour chart exercises!…660 individual paint mixes! It took a total of 23 hours over 9 rainy days!- not too bad for the amount of stuff I’ve learnt!…It’s amazing how a bunch of seemingly basic exercises can make your brain overheat and in the process, give you so much!…I’ve now got a much clearer understanding of colour and the relationships between colour families. This new understanding will help me choose the right colours and colour temperature for my painting mixes and will allow me to use a ‘colour value change’ in order to ‘turn the form’ better. – It’s like adding another good tool to my toolbox!…and will aid me in my pursuit of gaining more realism within my paintings…While I was trying to stay focused during these exercises, I was sharpening my skills at judging between the various colour value steps, as well as noticing how there are a few different ways of mixing certain colours…I’ve also learned first hand about the tinting strength of each of the pigments on my palette. – This knowledge will help me to achieve quicker mixes which will reduce the amount of time it takes to produce a painting and I guess will also save paint in the long run.- And to top it all off, I was using a palette knife to do these exercises- so now I’ve gained more confidence and skill in using one better! …..Yup!- there is no doubt that if you want to get really good at something – you just have to put the work in!….. Now all that is left to do, is to find some time to finish a painting I started a couple months ago – All the while mulling over everything I’ve just learned……And then I’ll be ready and super keen to start the next one!
Colour chart exercises 1-12 completed.
