Fuchsia Fandango

"Fuchsia Fandango" 8x8 oil on museum quality linen panel

 Click to Bid on Fuchsia Fandango--SOLD

Happy Friday all! I had a blast painting a Peace rose earlier this week for the DPW rose painting challenge-- and am already looking forward to my next rose--but in the meantime I wanted to try a a different type of flower.  

I spotted this vibrant fuchsia at my local nursery and loved the strong yellow-green leaves/cool pink complementary color combo along with the warmth of the clay pot. In this floral oil painting, I also set out to capture the unusual greenhouse light as well as harmonizing the powerful tropical colors. 


Today's Painting Tip: Use a Key Color for Stress Free Color Harmony
Whether you’re painting an abstract or a representational subject, a simple way to achieve better color harmony is to add one key “mother color” into ALL your color mixes. For example, if you’re painting pinkish flowers and using Permanent Rose or Quin Magenta add a tiny amount of it (think tip of knife) into all your oranges, violets, grays, browns, etc 

This “mother color” approach works particularly well for mixing your greens. Greens that have a touch of a warmer mother color will usually look a bit more natural and/or neutral which in turn will help support your higher intensity colors.

Working with a “mother color” as an approach is also a great way to become familiar with all the properties of that one particular pigment—how strong it is, how transparent it is, what kind of neutrals it makes, how it tints with white, etc.

Quick thanks again to all my new DPW collectors this month--I greatly appreciate your bids and the support of all the artists on DPW. Have a colorful and harmonious weekend.