Brushing Up
By Michael Chesley Johnson
Vivid Violets
Explore the rich possibilities that violets can add to your palette.
electromagnetic spectrum, which
means you’ll never see it in a rainbow.
Instead, purple is a perceived com-
posite color consisting of the spectral
colors blue and red. And what about
magenta? It, too, is extra-spectral,
consisting of the spectral colors violet
and blue. In this article, I’ll treat all
these colors as part of the violet family.
WHAT ARE VIOLETS GOOD FOR?
Violets are often overlooked in the oil
painter’s palette. If we need a violet, we
“ROSES ARE RED, VIOLETS ARE BLUE ...” Well, we all
know the color violet isn’t blue. On the color wheel, it
lies somewhere between blue and red. But would you
say the fl ower called violet is violet in color—or is it
more of a purple?
MEET THE VIOLET FAMILY
Th e words “violet” and “purple” are often used inter-
changeably. Artists, however, usually consider violet to
be closer to blue on the color wheel, with purple closer
to red. For scientists, violet is a spectral color with a
wavelength between 380 to 420 nanometers on the
electromagnetic spectrum. Purple, on the other hand,
is an extra-spectral color; that is, it doesn’t exist on the
ABOVE: I used a lot
of dioxazine purple
in the shadows of
Toward Otter Point
(oil on oil-primed
linen, 16x20).
Mixed with yellows,
the purple makes
stunning greens.TEXT CONTINUED ON PAGE 24NOTE ON COLORS
All paints used
in this article are
Gamblin Artist’s
Oil Colors.
20 artistsmagazine.com
20_tam1216BrushingUp.indd 20 9/22/16 8:33 AM