Artists & Illustrators - UK (2020-05)

COLOUR THEORY

ABOVE Late Sunshine, Bedruthan Steps, acrylic
ink and oil pastel on board, 25x35cm
This painting relied heavily on the juxtaposition
of two complementary colours, yellow and
purple. I let the Dioxazine Violet and yellow
mix in some areas to produce a brown, which,
mixed with the purple on the paper, created

excellent dark passages for the cliffs in the

near distance. A touch of white paint was mixed

with it to lighten the tonal contrast of the cliff

stacks in the middle distance in comparison to

the foreground. I also added a Prussian Blue to

the palette, which was useful for describing the

distant headland, golden clouds and blue-tinted

cliff. I couldn’t resist adding a broad stroke of

yellow pastel to the foreground grasses and

also to the sunlit edges of the cliffs.

I wanted to produce a dramatic rendition of

this scene and, using both aerial perspective

and complementary colours, I pushed

representational colours to the extreme.

Artists & Illustrators 55