limited Color

Lately, I’ve been messing with limited color. It’s a fun change from realistic (or “local”) color. For instance, this sketch done at the Galleria’s Bachman’s Floral Experience was very realistic:

I painted colors as I saw them in the flowers, the duck’s bill, and even the sweater a volunteer was wearing. As much as realistic colors are great fun, I also enjoy trying a limited palette with watercolors. This means instead of using lots of colors, you choose 3 or so and use those colors. Some people choose cool colors or warm colors, or analogous colors (near each other on the color wheel).

I was waiting for a family member to go on a walk around Lake Phalen in St. Paul and saw these Dumpsters in the parking lot. I find them interesting to bring to life and show them in a more beautiful light. These were boring black/gray Dumpsters, but I did a very quick sketch (including the open lid) and birds sitting on the rim. Once I got home, I deviated from the actual color and splashed on purples, pinks, blues, and teal. Much more fun!

A trip to Red Wing MN found me sketching with friends along the river. I liked the boats and house boats across the river, but the surroundings were drab spring colors. So I amped up the colors for fun! (No, the river is not that teal swimming pool color!)

I find it fun to even use limited colors when sketching people, as I did in this sketch in Jerry’s Foods. I had some time to sketch, then decided to use earth tones and blues. Blue Micron pen for the soup stand and lights, and it’s a fun sketch! The man behind the counter was in all black, the woman customer was in all black, but I wanted to have a different visual look.

Last Saturday, our Urban Sketching group went to Midtown Global Market in Minneapolis. I sketched a family watching a musician and decided to paint their clothes different colors. Later, I saw a group of ladies sewing hot mats to sell in one of the vendor areas. I decided to sketch one of them, but kept colors muted with light lavenders. Combined together in the sketch, the colors work in harmony. In reality, the lady sewing had on yellow socks, the table cloth was patterned in colors, and it all would have clashed.

As the artist, you get to choose the story to tell, and I like to tell stories with color. Limited color is a fun way to do that. Amp up your colors and ditch “reality” sometime. See where that takes you in your sketches!