How To Get Out of Your Comfort Zone!

Purple Haze, 11x14" Purchase at Etsy

Limited Color Palette is a Good Place to Start

I enjoy color ... and if you have seen much of my work, you probably already know that about me. So, limiting the colors I use, is definitely out of my comfort zone.

But ... I believe the only way we continue to learn is stepping out of our comfort zone. Try something new and a little on the "scary" side! Choose your favorite color and then use every related color to it: purple, lavendar, red-purple, blue-purple... warm and cool shades of anything that has purple in it!

What did I do?

I decided in this painting to do that, but then I chose the rust colors and the blue colors to be accents or discords. There is some green under-painting showing through that creates a little vibration in the purples, too. I would not call this a monochromatic painting because of those "extra" colors. It was fun!

Here is the first layer of "harder" pastels that sets up the large shapes. I did wet them with alcohol to create the "fixed" under-painting. So... you see the first layer, first step ... and you get to see the finished study.

I hope to do a larger painting of this scene ... possibly in oil or acrylic!