MIXING FLESH TONES – ANOTHER WAY

MY PERSONAL COLOR MIXING EXERCISE - sketching a little 9" x 11" oil portrait once a week with a different color palette. Here is ash blond Sara. This time, instead of a triad of colors, I used the complementary system described in “The Yin/Yang of Painting” by Chinese Artist, Hongnian Zhang. (Partners In Art Studio at 83 Webster Street in North Tonawanda, NY sells a handy and easy to use guide sheet that lays out all the possible complementary paints.

Sara is painted with the GREEN/RED complementary palette. It includes a wide range of paints from SAP GREEN, VIRIDIAN and RAW UMBER on the GREEN side to MAGENTA, CADMIUM RED and BURNT SIENNA on the RED side, plus WHITE and BLACK. The complements can enliven when side by side or soften when mixed. It really offers lots of choices yet keeps things together.