A Favorite Color Scheme demonstrated in "His Dugout"

His Dugout, 32.5" X 23.5", fluid acrylic
and watercolor, by April M. Rimpo

His Dugout

acrylic & watercolor on paper

32.5" X 23.5" image

39" X 31" silver brush frame

 

One of my favorite color schemes is a triad that uses primarily blue and orange with smaller hints of green.

Source: www.colorschemedesigner.com

I use www.colorschemedesigner.com to preview the triad and zero-in on the shade of blue and orange that I want to use.  Often the next step in my process is to use Adobe Photoshop to vary the colors in my reference photo(s) to try out my plan.  The Photoshop version never looks quite like the final painting, but gets me close enough to know whether I want to go forward. 

His Dugout is an abstract, representational painting that shows a Guatemalan man beside his dugout.  He was getting ready to repair the dugout using a molten, tar-like substance in his wooden boat.  As I mentioned in my blog post on Basket Maker, few of the Guatemalan men wear traditional clothing, but many of them build and use these dugout boats.  I'm sure I'll paint examples of these boats in the future.

His Dugout received an Honorable Mention Award at The Pennsylvania Watercolor Society's 34th Annual International Juried Exhibition. Many thanks to Pat Dews for selecting this painting for the exhibit and to Frank Webb for granting this award.  

Click the link at right to hear me discuss this painting. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jht7P1m60bI 

Like many of my paintings I used a combination of fluid acrylic and watercolor in His Dugout.  Only two acrylic colors were used: Da Vinci Leaf Green 945A and Da Vinci Cerulean Blue (Hue) 921A. I wanted the bright intensity I could get with acrylic for these light valued colors. The balance of the painting was done in watercolor. Below are three photos:

1. A picture of my source photograph before I manipulated it to push it to my desired color scheme.
2. An initial work in progress (WIP) after lying in the first blues and establishing some of the darkest values.
3. A later WIP photo after many of the orange hues had been added.

        

Below are some of my other paintings in which I used a similar blue/orange triad color scheme

             

Taking a Break

Woman with a Wrapped Hat

The Vendor

Related post on combining fluid acrylic and watercolor 

To see available prints check my store.

"Basket Maker", 27.5" X 20.5" fluid acrylic and watercolor

Basket Maker, 27.5" X 20.5", by April M. Rimpo

Basket Maker is a little special for me.  One reason this is so special is because this man was wearing traditional Guatemalan clothing that unfortunately not many of the men wear.  Many years of revolution in Guatemala have caused the men to migrate from traditional clothing to wearing clothes more like ours.  I assume this transition was to avoid damage to the clothing, but most men in Central Guatemala have not returned to wearing their traditional garments.  The women continue to wear the clothing of their clan, but not the men.  It was with pleasure that I could share this tradition. 

When I travel I take thousands of photographs of the area.  In fact I am so focused on the beauty of the area that I take few pictures of the people I am traveling with; something that I regret in hindsight.  I photographed the man making the basket but, like many of my painting source photos, I had no idea how to paint this subject at the time.  It was 4 years after taking the photo that I finally felt I had the skills I needed to accomplish the vision in my head.  I knew I wanted to keep him in front of the stone wall, but had to do some shifting and rearranging to make a better design.   The basket maker was in the shadow of the building so I also had to brighten the scene a little and reduce the shadow on his face.

Basket Maker

fluid acrylic and watercolor

27.5" X 20.5" image, matted in brushed silver frame

This painting is another in which I used a combination of fluid acrylic and watercolor.  Fluid acrylic was used first to create some textures in the background, especially in the rocks and door.  Once the acrylic was dry and not going to move, I used watercolor to create the blends of color in the rocks allowing the watercolor to flow and mix on the paper, something you just can't do with other media. I've included a couple photographs of the painting in progress for those interested in the techniques.

     

To see other work done by combining fluid acrylic and watercolor check this blog post