Usually when we think of primary colors, we visualize certain bright hues of red, yellow, and blue. These hues, we’ve been told, will let us make any color of our choice. As artists, we know that this idea is at best an approximation – mainly because there are so many wonderful colors out there!
What a primary triad does do for us is to keep our lives simple, and to maintain a harmony within our work. Although I enjoy using many different colors when I paint or draw, I also come back periodically to a group of three colors, perhaps adding a dark neutral if needed. This particular primary group is Quinacridone Pink, Quinacridone gold, and Prussian Blue. The samples shown are Daniel Smith tube watercolors, in my mini-palette.
What a primary triad does do for us is to keep our lives simple, and to maintain a harmony within our work. Although I enjoy using many different colors when I paint or draw, I also come back periodically to a group of three colors, perhaps adding a dark neutral if needed. This particular primary group is Quinacridone Pink, Quinacridone gold, and Prussian Blue. The samples shown are Daniel Smith tube watercolors, in my mini-palette.
I’ve heard of this combination of primaries before, but never tried it until recently. I'm pleased with the results, and the colors seem to reflect many of the colors I see right now in Southwest Florida.
Our sky is warming in color from a clear cool blue to a warmer Prussian Blue. The new bursts of foliage appear to have a brassy gold undertone, perhaps because this is our dry season. I don’t see those lovely delicate spring greens here that I remember from living in the northern Midwest. The Quinacridone Pink echoes the hues I see in the new leaves and samaras of red maples and the brightly colored bougainvillea bracts.
I made this triad into a small mini-palette for those times when I need to lighten my art supply load in the field. So far it’s worked out well, and I’m especially happy with the range of colors I get from this pink-gold-blue combination. I was surprised at the darks I was able to get, as well as the range of greens.
Some time ago, I created a series in which I painted a single subject (a dried sycamore leaf) using different primary triads. You can view these on my Flickr photostream, starting with this one. If you find yourself needing to simplify and get back to basics, try a primary triad of some sort. If you’d like to read more about primary triads, Bruce MacEvoy discusses them in detail on his website handprint.com.
You can click on the above images to view larger on my Flickr photostream.
Great post, Elizabeth! Love this triad!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Pam! It's a new one to me, and I'm enjoying the learning process!
ReplyDeleteA wonderful and informative post, Elizabeth. I'm very new to watercolour...still using the cheap cake palettes although I do plan to upgrade in the near future because I'm having so much fun with them. My background is in acrylics and I remember using just three primary colours, plus white, to complete a whole painting and I was so pleased and impressed with the vast a range of colours I could achieve.
ReplyDeleteHmmm, I really love the mixes you're getting and it would never have occurred to me to try Prussian Blue, and Quin Gold in a triad!
ReplyDeleteLove the travel palette too! ;•)
I liked your triad mini-lesson! I checked out your Sycamore leaf series...it's amazing!
ReplyDeleteThanks Serena! So glad you found my post so helpful. : ) Watercolor is a lot of fun – I’ve enjoyed painting in acrylics but there is something dynamic and unpredictable about watercolors that has me hooked!
ReplyDeleteHi Laure! The mixes from this are really interesting; I read about this combination somewhere, but can’t remember where or from whom…possibly online (?) I love my little travel palette, too – thank you for your creative post and the great idea!
Thanks Cindy! I’m glad you enjoyed it! When I finished that series, I was astounded at the color variations I could create. What also surprised me were the subtle differences in each triad, even though I was essentially painting a brown leaf over and over.