Color Chords

   This entry was originally posted on Tuesday,  August 21, 2012

In yesterday's post, I talked about how color affects mood.

It is by changing the color in your painting, you can change the mood.

Another exercise to try in painting is the use of what I like to call "color chords".

 

This is the use of colors that work well together.

Instead of using the colors that occur in your photo, try a color chord.

These color chords can be found anywhere;

a piece of fabric, a photograph from a magazine, even another painting.

Once you decide on the color chord and mood you want to express, try to paint in those colors.

 

For instance, in my painting, Chinatown, Vancouver, the original photo had a blue sky and a brown door.

The blue sky also affected the windows.

Instead of going with those original colors, I found a painting with these colors instead.

I feel like it creates a better mood for the painting.