Even for those of us who love color, every once in a while it's fun to experiment by painting with one color only. Using just one color really helps you see your painting in terms of lights and darks. I find doing this helps me establish values when I carry what I've learned over to my usual, multicolor work.
Sepia is a great color to use for this exercise. Not only does it evoke old-time photography, it also can be used in a range from very dark, almost black, to subtle, minky shades.
Here are two small paintings I've done using only sepia. Both are from old family photos; the one at the top is a quick sketch done without any pencil drawing. The bottom one may not be quite finished.
Have you tried this? What do you think of using just one color?
You sure look like you had fun my friend. Sepia is indeed a great color for many things. One of my client fell in love with sepia while taking a class with me and she's been painting with it ever since. She enjoys painting old people, black people etc and it's perfect for that. Do you use Daniel Smith colors?
ReplyDeleteYour paintings are just so cute. Way to go ..
Thanks, Christiane! Yes, I mostly use Daniel Smith colors.
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