Welcome to
The Painting Lesson
by Linda Carson
big black pig studio
98 King St. N., Waterloo Ontario Canada
www.bigblackpig.com
Broken Colour
Sometimes a painter doesn't want perfect coverage and smoothly-blended transitions. Instead, painters often use layers of colour, and break up the upper layers to reveal some of the colours underneath. This is called broken colour. Broken colour is achieved many different ways, but the effect is of a lacey coat of paint with lots of holes in it.
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For example: The shading of the green maze (above) is created in layers. The foundation layer is a very dark green. The rest is scribbled swirls of a bright lime green. Where I wanted the maze to be lightest, I layered on lots of scribbles. Where I wanted some shadow, I painted fewer scribbles and let more of the dark green underneath peek through. |
This is a lively way of shading, varying the texture of the surface, and blending colours optically rather than on the palette. It may be achieved by hatching, cross-hatching, or any patterned marks applied in varying densities. This includes dots, brushstrokes and scratches, techniques known respectively as stippling (such as Pointillism), drybrushing, and sgraffito.
Back to the main lesson?Art & Text (C) Linda Carson 2002
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