July 13, 2014

Having recently read “The First 20 Hours”, I decided to put it into practice. I have studied colour theory before, so it’s not a topic that is entirely new to me, but I figured that I have a lot to gain by re-educating myself on colour theory and colour mixing. Right now it’s not a skill I can brag about. So I’m getting to know my friend Betty Edwards a bit better with her book “Color A course in mastering the art of mixing colors” and besides the fact that she continually leaves out the U in COLOUR, I am finding it very helpful. Some of what I have learned so far:

1. Betty firmly believes (and I agree) that artists should be trained sequentially in, FIRST, drawing – learning to use line and then to add VALUE, SECOND, colour theory and LASTLY, the combination of these skills to create paintings. This is very logical in my mind. not absolutely necessary, but it appeals to my methodical side. In fact this reminds me very much of a particular post by Robert Genn that informs my personal educational mission to improve my skills as an artist.
2. Betty has a three step algorithm for mixing colour – again, how can this NOT be cool? Now if she could only break down the painting of the Sistine Chapel into three similarly straight-forward steps, life would be truly good. Steps are: 1. Identify the colour wheel HUE that is the base of the colour. 2. Identify the VALUE of the colour and 3. Idenitify the INTENSITY of the colour. And mix the colour. Very helpful.