COMPOSITION
BELOW Ivon
Hitchens, Arno
II, 1965, oil on
c anv a s , 51 x 117c m
In your own work...
Think about how you create frames
of colour and tone to draw attention
to different parts of your painting.
Will you create strong contrasts in
your subject to draw attention? Or will
you use them as part of a framework
that surrounds your subject?COMPLEMENTARY
CONTRASTS
Dashes of bright yellow contrast with
dark, saturated blues amidst a tumultof dull, dark greens in Hitchens’s
1965 abstract painting Arno II.
It is a hymn to the relationship
between colours that sit as
clear brushstrokes on the
page with no indicator of
representing an observed
subject. The contrast
of complementary hues
is the best recognised
colour contrast, although
it’s not as well understood
as it might be.
Complementary colours
sit opposite one another on
the colour wheel – colours sitting
opposite are as different from one
another as they can possibly be, so
that when they are placed next
to one another on the canvas they
create a powerful contrast, making
both colours appear to stand out on
the page. Pairing a colour with its
complementary to create a dramatic
contrast of hue is a device used in all
disciplines that make use of colour- from painting to photography and
interior design.
The potentially confusing aspect of
a complementary contrast is that the
exact position of a colour on a colour
wheel can vary depending on the
wheel itself – although the order of
COLOUR WHEEL
To determine the
complementary of a
particular colour, think about
what it would sit opposite on
the colour wheel.colours are consistent, with yellow
followed by orange followed by red
around the circumference of the
circle, their exact proportion and
division can vary depending on
what the wheel is used for.
Some wheels are based on the
scientifi c distribution of colour in the
spectrum of visible light, others are
used for colour comparisons and
others for aiding colour mixing –
each will have a bias depending on
its intended use. This means that on
some wheels, yellow sits opposite
purple – on others it might sit opposite
blue. For our purposes, we can
certainly treat the warm, Ultramarine
Blue of Arno II as a complementary to
the green-tinged yellow dashes.In your own work...
Think about how you might use a
complementary contrast in your work.
Whether you are painting abstractly or
representationally it is an effective
means of creating a powerful visual
contrast in your work. Get to know the
colour wheel a little better and notice
how some wheels might vary
compared to others.
Ivon Hitchens: Space Through Colour runs
until 13 October at the Pallant House
Gallery, Chichester. http://www.pallant.org.uk