One way to use broken color is to create optical color mixing, which is to put colors side by side, instead of mixing them together. Viewed from a far-ish distance, the colors visually mix. Viewed a bit closer up, the difference in colors visually pop and vibrate, giving the sensation or the impression of light.
Think that vibrating colors are one of those made up arty things? Take a look at this red/green wrapping paper. See how the trees and green are visually jumpy?
The grayscale version appears to have less vibration, and less light.
The technique of broken color goes back as far as the practice of weaving color rich tapestries (1600’s), is mentioned in Michel Chevreul’s “A Colourist’s Guide to Margarine” (1839). It was highly utilized by the Impressionists, and is still popular in painting today.
Alex Katz painted by Chuck Close, Alex II (1989)
Tom Thompson
1877-1017
One of the “Group of Seven” Canadian Painters
Notice too, how the underpainting was orange. You can see the orange peeking through each brush stroke. Imagine if the same painting was on white gesso. Not as good.
Anni Albers
1899-1994
[caption id=”attachment_15184″ align=”aligncenter” width=”650 Detail of weaving by Anni Albers
PS. I was joking about Chevreul’s Colourist’s Guide to Margarine, but only slightly.
Search for #30sal on Instagram and along with our 775+ recent art posts, you’ll likely see this photo by pedramparsaaa posted in 2017, tagged #30sal. Yes, Pedram, we hijacked your hashtag. Wednesday is the “See and Respond” day for challenges. Today, let’s give something back to Pedram. Use his pic above as inspiration for an …
R. B. Kitaj 1932 – 2007 Edited from https://artbios.net/5-en.html R.B. Kitaj was an American artist who championed figuration in the aftermath of expressionism. Kitaj was an influential figure in the London art scene and was intimate with Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, coining the term “London School” for this group. His art was unabashedly erudite and often accompanied …
Last week I sent out a creative invitation to put googly eyes on inanimate objects. The responses on Instagram made our heads spin! Below are a few selected from the whole googly bunch. Stay tuned! The monkeys are gathering their favorites for week 2 of the #30SAL Challenge. Posting soon!
This is day 4 of the 30SAL creative challenge! To learn more about this 30 day challenge, click here. Looking at only the back of this altarpiece fragment, imagine what the front looks like, and recreate it. You can draw, paint, lay out baguettes and hosiery, or anything else that inspires you. Share your drawing …
Broken Color
Weave
One way to use broken color is to create optical color mixing, which is to put colors side by side, instead of mixing them together. Viewed from a far-ish distance, the colors visually mix. Viewed a bit closer up, the difference in colors visually pop and vibrate, giving the sensation or the impression of light.
Think that vibrating colors are one of those made up arty things? Take a look at this red/green wrapping paper. See how the trees and green are visually jumpy?
The grayscale version appears to have less vibration, and less light.
The technique of broken color goes back as far as the practice of weaving color rich tapestries (1600’s), is mentioned in Michel Chevreul’s “A Colourist’s Guide to Margarine” (1839). It was highly utilized by the Impressionists, and is still popular in painting today.
Alex Katz painted by Chuck Close, Alex II (1989)
Tom Thompson
1877-1017
One of the “Group of Seven” Canadian Painters
Notice too, how the underpainting was orange. You can see the orange peeking through each brush stroke. Imagine if the same painting was on white gesso. Not as good.
Anni Albers
1899-1994
[caption id=”attachment_15184″ align=”aligncenter” width=”650
Detail of weaving by Anni Albers
PS. I was joking about Chevreul’s Colourist’s Guide to Margarine, but only slightly.
Related Posts
30SAL Challenge: Hey boys, we have your hashtag
Search for #30sal on Instagram and along with our 775+ recent art posts, you’ll likely see this photo by pedramparsaaa posted in 2017, tagged #30sal. Yes, Pedram, we hijacked your hashtag. Wednesday is the “See and Respond” day for challenges. Today, let’s give something back to Pedram. Use his pic above as inspiration for an …
R. B. Kitaj
R. B. Kitaj 1932 – 2007 Edited from https://artbios.net/5-en.html R.B. Kitaj was an American artist who championed figuration in the aftermath of expressionism. Kitaj was an influential figure in the London art scene and was intimate with Lucian Freud and Francis Bacon, coining the term “London School” for this group. His art was unabashedly erudite and often accompanied …
Eye Love You; Selected Googly Eyes from the 30SAL Challenge
Last week I sent out a creative invitation to put googly eyes on inanimate objects. The responses on Instagram made our heads spin! Below are a few selected from the whole googly bunch. Stay tuned! The monkeys are gathering their favorites for week 2 of the #30SAL Challenge. Posting soon!
Day 4: Altarpiece #30SAL
This is day 4 of the 30SAL creative challenge! To learn more about this 30 day challenge, click here. Looking at only the back of this altarpiece fragment, imagine what the front looks like, and recreate it. You can draw, paint, lay out baguettes and hosiery, or anything else that inspires you. Share your drawing …