Painting Still Life in Oils by Adele Wagstaff

Author:Adele Wagstaff
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781785000591
Publisher: Crowood

The step-by-step transition of yellow to orange.

Complementary pairs.

Complementary Colours

Two colours are called ‘complementary’ when they are found opposite each other on the colour wheel; when mixed in the proper proportion they make a neutral ‘grey’.

So the complementary of red is green, of blue is orange and of yellow is purple, and it is well to remember these three pairs for those occasions when you don’t have a colour wheel to refer to. You may remember the complementary of a colour being the mixture of the two remaining primaries.

When placed next to each other, complementary colours will appear brighter and more intense. Look at how the early twentieth-century group of artists called the Fauves used complementary colours in their work. Matisse’s second version of his painting The Dance of 1910, and Music of the same year, demonstrate how the painter uses complementary colours next to one another which enhance and vibrate against each other.

When a colour is mixed with its complementary, the colour will become neutralized and appears ‘grey’. Within each pair of complimentary colours all three primaries are present.

Once you understand how complementary colours work together you can explore and experiment with them when painting. Matisse and Derain, two of the Fauve painters, made pictures using vivid palettes of primary and secondary colours. The Impressionists used complementary colours to great effect, in their landscapes in particular; when you next look at Impressionist landscapes consider how the yellows and purples, and the other complementary pairs, work together.

When white is mixed with these ‘greys’ we begin to see how wonderfully subtle and exciting a palette can become – think of the beautiful paintings of Gwen John and Morandi, created using a harmonious and rich variety of greys.

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