Our August Challenge is to use only a yellow, plus black and white, to make a painting.
It was my turn to choose what we'd paint this month and since I'd been thinking a lot lately about that limited palette we used in the May Challenge, I wanted to take it a step further and see if I could make an interesting painting using only a yellow pigment plus black and white.
I chose a transparent warm yellow (Gamblin's Indian Yellow), Titanium White and Gamblin's Chromatic Black. I thought long about the possibilities for subject matter and how much I could push the color range and contrasts. I also considered painting on a toned board (such as light blue, or red) and letting some of that show through. Although that would've given me more color variety, I decided to simply use the limited paint colours on a white board and see if I could make it interesting.
And what to paint... a winter scene with mostly greys? I recognized that a bumblebee would be an excellent choice but finally landed on a sunny landscape for subject matter.
(left) "Sunny Back Light"
5"x7" Original oil on hardboard
©2010 Diana Moses Botkin
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The very limited palette gives this piece an interesting vintage look that reminds me of duotones. In my commercial artist days, I often employed duotones to add photo emphasis in a layout using only one extra color. The greys have to stand for the cool tones and do look a bit blue compared with the warmer yellows. I did miss using a little ultramarine, though.... and a little red too.
The other Challenge Group members were able to get quite a range of hues. I am so impressed with everyone's work! You can enjoy them all at my blog post.
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