Tutorials › Indoor Tutorial 2 - Red Hot Peppers

Paints used: Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Red, Dioxazine Violet, Alizarin Crimson, Ultramarine.

Click on each of the images to view a larger version.

Stage 1:

In this picture Cadmium Yellow was used for the ‘base’ colour and mixed with Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson to create oranges and purples. The initial washes were applied using a wet brush and allowing the yellow based colours to bleed into each other.

Stage 2:

Ultramarine blue was added to the yellow 'family' at this stage to add some depth to the peppers, creating shadows and a sense of recession with the composition. These washes were applied to dry paper to create some hard lines within the peppers and shadow shapes.

In this panting you will need to think of the idea of colour ‘families’ – eg. reds, yellows and oranges, blues, purples and violets, and greens, yellows and blues. This will be the starting point. The ways in which colours can either work together or against each other for dynamic effects either way.

Simple subjects and backdrops chosen for their colours are placed together and the use of one ‘base’ colour reinforced. This painting uses yellow as its colour base, adding some orange to create the table cloth, and some red and violet to create the peppers. The addition of some blue for the shadow works particularly well as blue and orange are ‘opposite’ each other on the colour wheel, adding to the effect.

Tutorials › Indoor Tutorial 2 - Red Hot Peppers

Stage 1:

Stage 2:

More Tutorials