Welcome to
The Painting Lesson
by Linda Carson
big black pig studio
98 King St. N., Waterloo Ontario Canada
www.bigblackpig.com
Chromatic Grays
Chromatic means "coloured." Some of the most interesting and versatile colours are the chromatic, or "coloured," grays. The chromatic grays include a lot of colours you may not immediately think of as "gray." These are luscious smokey muted colours like olive and khaki and umber and oxblood and moss. You get 'em by mixing a bit of everything you've got left on your palette at the end of the day . . . or by combining a pair of complementary colours.
Chromatic grays are also the key to mixing flesh tones.
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For example: The square swatches of colour in the foreground (above) are chromatic grays. For comparison, look at the stormy wipes of colour in the background: colourless, or achromatic grays. |
Chromatic grays are moody and resonant, playing off and playing up the colours around them. They're the farthest thing from the neutral cleanliness of achromatic ("colourless") grays you get mixing black and white. Chromatic grays are the colours you need to paint earth, dusk, swamps and chocolate.
Back to the main lesson?Art & Text (C) Linda Carson 2002
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