So I was painting this morning and I was just thinking, there's this way that I paint with my colors and stuff that gets me kind of fired up. And I realized, there's this pattern I use, we're using harmony of the colors and then breaking that harmony. And it's this thing that I do when I'm painting. And I just sort of realized that I do it, and I thought I'd share it with you because it might be, I don't know, it might open up your eyes to a way of mixing colors. So, so here it is, check this out. So what I do, if I'm just playing around with paint is I, I start with, you know, I always have a lot of paint on my palette and I have a bunch of different colors poured out. This is acrylic by the way. And what I tend to do is I, I rarely just pull, start with the raw color. I always take a few other colors, just, it's almost like a habit, you know? And, and so I pull, you know, a bunch of colors doesn't really matter. You know, what colors, as long as there's a bunch of different ones, I'll put a few more of these out and, and that'll be my red. Okay. So my red has been, you know, there's compliments in there and stuff. It's just a really rich thing. And then I'll just put this down. And so what I've done in a sense is that I've backed away from this pure red color, and I've got this rich color that I've put down and then I'll get another color. I'll get another color going like this color. That's different, but I'll do the same thing. I'll pull other colors into it, right? Like this color has got a bunch of stuff in there. And, and now, so it's still kind of this color, but it's, it's this really beautiful kind of, it's just richer, right? And again, I'm far away from this pure blue color there, right? It's still looks blue. And this is just, what is this always helps me when I lay in my paintings, it just looks more interesting. So let's do one I'll show you I'll put some yellow paint on here, and I've never actually realized that this is what, how I paint, but this is what I do on my big paintings and everything I'm working with harmony harmony is basically colors that relate with, to each other, based on the fact, they all share something in common. That's how you create color harmony. So by me, just mixing colors into other colors that are on my palette, they kind of relate. So I'm going to do this yellow color, take some of that stuff, take some of this stuff, maybe a little of this blue and you know, I want it to be light, still add some light to it. Now I've got this color and it just, it just looks better. They're just interesting colors right away and I'll show you. Okay. So, and then of course, of course, the other thing I'm thinking about of you guys, for those of you who have taken workshops with me and everything, are differences of light and dark, that's the most important thing to get me excited about what I'm making. So I will, let's take a dark color, but I'm not going to use this pure blue. I'm going to do the same thing. I'm just going to grab a bunch of colors. It doesn't even matter what, and just to get some different, darker blue that I wouldn't normally have. Sometimes you have to squirt more, more out. I just love it when I do this. And then I put it down. I just like, what's happening here. This gets me excited. Like, look at all these great color that is happening here. I like the color. I might not like what I'm making or the fact that I'm going to change the design or whatever, but the color it's, it's almost emotional. You know, like these are pretty cool colors. So let's, let's put some pink on here. And again, I just take that color and add a little bunch of other stuff. There's no rhyme or reason to this. Isn't that it's so pretty, you know, it's just kind of inspiring. Okay. And so I've got, I've got this kind of going, you know, I've got some pink color on there and I'll put it on top of the other paint. It just looks kind of, it kind of looks kind of rich. Now let's do a green. So this also makes it, it makes the painting kind of hang together a little bit better because all the colors are in harmony. So they feel at the same world, you know, and if colors share other colors, share the same colors, they all work together that, that this is what happens automatically. You don't have to really know that much about it just have to understand the principle of harmony. So I'm going to mix up a nice green and again, I'm making, here's a beautiful green, I mean, it's just really fun to play with the colors. It just gets me excited. You know, when I'm, whether I'm making a painting or just experimenting or whatever, just because I like the color so much, you know, And then I can also do like, so I've got some darks in here now. This is where it gets really interesting because all the colors kind of working and I've got a variation I always like to keep my eye on value. You know, I'm going to, I can come in with some white, you know, which doesn't have a lot of color and see how it just activates it. It looks so good. I can use some really just I'll take the white and I'll make it just off white with, you know, taking some of the colors that I've already used becomes like, almost like a dirty white. See how beautiful this looks. I mean, you know, it just kind of keeps you going, cause it's so nice to, to see and the white of the paper, it looks so nice with this almost white color. Get a little pinkier. Now, so I'm getting this, getting a whole bunch of colors on here. And now when I bring in dark, which doesn't have any colors, maybe some accents of black, it just makes those colors look even better. Right. Because we don't have, there's no color in this, right? Like there's no color in the black at all. Now let's do a little, get a little bit. Now when I, if I want it, you know, I get some things going just like this, you know, a bunch of colors and playing around with it. And, but if I want to go up a higher saturation or make, if I bring in colors, now that don't relate. So, because everything's kind of related, I mean, these are different colors, but they all this green has this yellow and red and you saw, I mixed all these together. So now I've got this extra room on this painting. I can take red, right? Here's the red, I'm cleaning off my brush and I'm going to take this red and I'm going to use it and introduce a color that is not related so much, right? Like there's this red is, is a different red, but do you see how powerful it is? Because now, now this is like a color that doesn't relate and it stands out so much better, so much more. So this is the room I was talking about because I haven't used any colors. All the colors in the beginning were kind of saturated. Now there's this, I'm activating it with this new red that's popping around. And it really stands out. Right. And even the grays that I'll make, if I mix up a gray, so let's do that. Take a little of this. I'm going to make a gray out of all those colors, you know? And I'm just adding, I'm just mixing up stuff just to make a gray. There it is. It's not very colorful at all, but it's made of all those colors. I could do this all day. I love discovering color combinations. Right? Sometimes I get so excited just by the colors that it makes me want to paint. You know? So this is a fun, fun thing to do, whether you're starting your painting or just doing experiments, kind of warming it up a little bit and just make a warmer gray So this is how I tend to, you know, use harmony to lay in pictures just by automatically as I go, and then using colors that aren't harmonized to activate it and make it more interesting to look at and play around with. And of course, you know, I'll come in and I'll change. You know, I'll change stuff and see how on my palette making this blue, this, it automatically works with this picture. You know, this blue that I'm creating, you know, like it, it looks good. It's just got this amazing depository of all these colors that I can create here. It's so much fun. You know, what's happening over here really affects what's happening over here. This is how, where you get these amazing colors from, and, you know, kind of paying attention to what, you know, what you're painting, you know, like this, even though these are the first marks I've made, they kind of relate. It's starting to feel like a painting because all the colors are working together. Anyway, I just thought I'd share that with you, sort of a realization. This is how I, how I start my work and how I work with color and just building up surfaces anyway, let us know in the comments, what you think, how you work with color, if you even think about this or, or, you know, what kind of ideas you have around this. So hope you have a awesome Sunday and let us know in the comments what's going on. And for those of you who are new here, we have an amazing free Art2Life artists, Facebook group, tons of cool stuff going on in there. You can click on the link below. Everyone's welcome. And there's all kinds of stuff you can learn from other people. And it's, it's a whole world. So please come and join us and hope to see you real soon. Thank you. Bye. Hey everyone. If you found this helpful, I have a whole lot more to teach, share, and inspire you with every single week. So please join the Art2Life YouTube channel by clicking the subscribe button below. Okay, great. Let's do this.
