A Limited Palette for Unlimited Harmony

When I paint, I lust after color.  Lots of color.  Rich intense dazzling color.  But sometimes, there is too much of a good thing.  I can ruin a painting by using too many different colors.  The end result of being over-generous with color choices is a disjointed look.  Not what I want...

This week I challenged myself to use an extremely limited palette of four colors.  I used Golden Acrylic Liquid quinacridone crimson, quinacridone gold, and turquoise plus a heavy body Golden Acrylic titanium white.  These are the primary colors of red, yellow and blue plus white that will produce a wide variety of colors when mixed in varying quantities.

I went for a splashy, spontaneous approach and utilized the transparent nature of the liquid colors to build optical depth. Once again, New Orleans provided the subject matter for my week's work.  I was happy with the variety of darks and lights produced and delighted with the color harmony of all the paintings.  Another benefit of working with a limited palette is that my paintings are now a cohesive group as you can see. 

Mona Vivar, "After Work", 12 inches by 9 inches, acrylic on canvas

Available on Ebay Mona Vivar Fine Art 

 

 

Mona Vivar, "At the Bar", 12 inches by 9 inches, acrylic on canvas

Available on Ebay at Mona Vivar Fine Art

 

 

Mona Vivar, "The View (Bourbon Street)", 11 inches by 14 inches, acrylic on canvas

Available on Ebay at Mona Vivar Fine Art

 

 

 Mona Vivar, "Oysters on the Half Shell", 9 inches by 12 inches, acrylic on canvas

Available on Ebay at Mona Vivar Fine Art

Mona Vivar, "Reds", 9 inches by 12 inches, acrylic on canvas

Available on Ebay at Mona Vivar Fine Art

 

 

So with a limited palette I now use fewer paints, make fewer color decisions, gain color harmony, and create a unified body of work.  What's not to like about that? 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Images copyright of Mona Vivar 2013