Ever visit a museum and notice how some paintings just seem to capture your attention and draw you in more than others?

One of the true challenges of painting is learning how to create a compelling center of interest.  There are a number of things that work together in a painting to accomplish this strong center of interest, but one in particular that works very well is a painting technique known as “The Spotlight Effect”.

In the free video below, Richard Robinson talks about this technique and how you can use it to give your painting a powerful center of interest.

Painting Lesson – The Spotlight Effect

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f1RrEVyk9RY

Richard Robinson is the Webmaster of LivePaintingLessons.com where you will find a range of video painting lessons suited for beginner AND advanced painters ranging from painting beaches and skies, to waterfalls, lakes and mountains, light and atmosphere, still life, color and more.

My absolute favorite product of Richard’s is his course on Mastering Color. It’s a  DVD workshop with over 40 breakthrough color techniques. It also includes 240 pages of printable notes & other indispensable resources.  Read my review on Mastering Color here.

Achieving a sense of color harmony in painting is something that we all strive for as artists, but some of us just never seem to get there and eventually become frustrated and give up.

It is no surprise that color harmony is so difficult to achieve. For one, there are so many different colors to choose from today, and when you have this many choices, things can become rather confusing. Secondly, it is very difficult to find any clear cut advice on this topic.

Hopefully the following tips will help you get a better grasp on color in your painting and you will finally be on your way toward Mastering Color.

One of the most effective methods that will help you harmonize your paintings is to switch to a limited palette of colors. A limited palette simply means that you are reducing the number of colors on your palette.

You will only have a small handful of colors to choose from and you will be required to mix all the colors that you need. Because you are using the same small handful of colors, you become more knowledgeable about those specific colors. More knowledge means better control and more harmonious paintings. Too many different colors can lead to chaos in a painting. With a limited palette, you aren’t distracted by a full spectrum of hues, leaving you more time to focus on the project at hand.

The colors that you choose for your limited palette are completely up to you. There are no right or wrong palettes, but you may be interested in trying the following colors.

This is a palette that Richard Robinson uses. Richard is the creator of the Home Study Course Called Mastering Color. If anyone knows about Color Harmony, it is Richard.

I just recently got my hands on his course and I learned more about Color Harmony from his DVD than from years of reading books and taking classes elsewhere. His course completely opened my mind and made me think of color in a way that I never thought possible. His course is what inspired me to write this post.

Here is Richard’s Palette: Titanium White, Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Red Mid, Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna.

Richard uses and recommends an oil paint brand called Archival Oils. You can learn more about them below:

Chroma Archival Oils Chroma Archival Oils is a line of professional-quality artists’ oil paints that includes an assortment of Series 1 “Gold Series” colors at a student-grade price. The Gold Series assortment completes a mixing palette that is much more highly pigmented and satisfying for students and professors to use in the classroom. All Gold Series colors are denoted in the table below with an asterisk (*) . With a formulation of “perfected consistency” and a rich, buttery texture, Archival Oils appeal to all oil artists, from beginners to experts. Use them with Chroma’s Archival Odorless Mediums for a healthier and more pleasant working environment. Unique benefits of Archival Oils include: Freedom of Technique — Break the traditional oil painting rules! As an Archival painting cures, the surface layer stretches to accommodate movement below, allowing artists to complete their work quickly without harming it, even when complex layering techniques are used. Fast Drying Time — No need to wait up to six months for your oil paintings to dry! When combined with alkyd-based Archival Mediums, Archival Oils dry quickly on the painting, but remain workable on the palette until mediums are added. Archival Paintings Won’t Crack Over Time — The flexibility of Archival Oils allows for movement as the painting dries, cures, and becomes stable. Age-cracking does not occur when paintings are created using Archival Oils. A Professional Artist’s Oil That’s Accessible to Students and Amateurs — Archival Series 1 Oils offer a complete mixing palette of affordable colors that are highly pigmented, permanent, and much more satisfying to use than traditional all-one-price student-grade paints.

Once they have enough working knowledge of just two colors, they are then permitted to incorporate a third color, a blue for instance, so that they are now working with a warm and cool color. Then they are permitted to incorporate some sort of red, then yellow, etc..

Give a limited palette a try and see what paintings you can come up with!

As Artists we shouldn’t be afraid of color. It should be something that we embrace with open arms. You can master color and become the artist you have always dreamed of. You can learn how to think about color in a whole new way, a way that you never thought was possible!

Follow this link now and learn how to Master Color with over 40 breakthrough color techniques!

In this video lesson Richard Robinson talks about how to more easily recognize color and value. Seeing color and value correctly is one of the most difficult aspects of creating art. In this lesson, Richard discusses how detail in your reference picture can actually distract you from seeing the main values. He recommends to squint your eyes when looking at your reference picture, which blurs the image and makes it easier to recognize value. He goes on to say that while squinting your eyes can help see value, it will not help you to better recognize color.

Recognizing color is a real challenge.  One of the main reasons it is so challenging to see color accurately is because of a a particular color’s surrounding environment. A color’s surrounding environment can greatly affect the way we perceive it.

For instance, you can take the same color blue and surround it with two different colors as illustrated in the picture below.  Notice how the the blue swatch on the left appears lighter and seems to stand out more than the blue swatch on the right?

Richard’s example in the video below will illustrate this point even better. He goes on to explain that in order to see the color correctly, we must isolate that particular color from its surrounding environment.  Richard discusses an awesome tool that he uses to accomplish this..  Watch the video below to learn more!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVny7BswdqY

As Artists we shouldn’t be afraid of color. It should be something that we embrace with open arms. You can master color and become the artist you have always dreamed of. You can learn how to think about color in a whole new way, a way that you never thought was possible!

Follow this link now and learn how to Master Color with over 40 breakthrough color techniques!

Are you an artist who struggles with color? Do you find yourself unable to achieve color harmony in your artwork? Well you are not alone. Did you know that over 70% of artists admit that color is one of their biggest obstacles? Chances are that you are amongst those 70% or you would not be reading this article right now.

If you take the time to work on the exercise below, you will have a new appreciation and understanding of color, and it won’t take years of practice either. You can become more knowledgeable about color after only one session.

What exactly am I talking about?

I am talking about an exercise that will greatly increase your understanding of the properties and interactivity of the colors on your palette. I am talking about creating color charts and lots of them.

You see, the problem with many artists, myself included at one time, is that we tend to just jump right into our work haphazardly without learning proper foundational skills. This will only create frustration and waste lots of your time and materials.

So how will creating color charts benefit you as an artist?

Well apart from understanding how colors interact when mixed with one another, you will also have a resource or tool that you can reference over and over again.

Lets say you have a particular color scheme in mind…say a complimentary scheme of red and green. Just pull out your red and green color charts and you will instantly know what colors you could use and how to mix them. No more guesswork or wasted paint!

You will also be introduced to color mixtures that you never thought were possible. Far too often, we fall into the habit of using the same colors over and over again when something else may work better. Why limit yourself when you have an almost limitless palette of colors at your disposal?

Ok lets create our first color chart…

Here is what you will need:

1. Paint – It doesn’t matter what colors you choose to begin with. When I did my first color chart, I wanted to start by mixing greens. I love landscape painting, so I wanted to see how many different versions of green I could create from various combinations of yellow, blue, black, red and orange.
2. Support – I like to use canvas boards for my color charts. They are inexpensive and strong and will last a long time if you take good care of them.
3. Brush or Palette Knife – I prefer to use a palette knife to make the swatches if I am using oil or acrylic paint. This way you can just wipe the knife clean when creating a new swatch. Obviously if you are using watercolor, you will need to use a brush.

That’s all you are going to need to get started.

Step 1

To begin with, we need to create a grid on our canvas board. You can use a ruler or other straight edge to create the grid. Make the grid so that it is divided into one inch squares with five rows. Leave some room at the bottom of each column so that you can label it with the specific colors that you used or take other notes.

Step 2

Next, lets pick a color as our starting point. As I said earlier, it doesn’t matter what colors you start with, but for arguments sake, lets begin with Cadmium Yellow Light. Hopefully you have this color in your palette, if not, just use whatever light yellow you have.

Step 3

With your palette knife, fill in the top left square of your grid with your light yellow, straight from the tube.

Step 4

Next fill in the very bottom square of the same column with a mixture of titanium white and a touch of light yellow.

Step 5

Now create a mixture of light yellow and titanium white with a value that is half way between the top and bottom values and put that in the middle square.

Step 6

Now create a mixture of light yellow and white with a value that is half way between the first and third squares and put that mixture in the second square.

Step 7

Repeat the same process for the remaining squares and you have your first column of color swatches completed. You now have five different values of light yellow.

Step 8

Now you can move on to the next column. This time try mixing light yellow with another color from your palette, like orange for instance, with the light yellow predominating slightly. Then you adjust the values of each swatch with white like you did for the first column.

Then just continue the process using all of the colors on your palette. You will now have a ton of new colors that you never knew existed before to breathe life into your next painting.

As Artists we shouldn’t be afraid of color. It should be something that we embrace with open arms. You can master color and become the artist you have always dreamed of. You can learn how to think about color in a whole new way, a way that you never thought was possible!

Follow this link now and learn how to Master Color with over 40 breakthrough color techniques!

Mastering Color DVD Workshop With Richard Robinson

Over 40 Breakthrough Color Techniques!

Includes 240 Pages of Printable Notes & Other Indispensable Resources!

What is one of the most challenging aspects of creating original art? It doesn’t matter if you work with oils, acrylics, watercolor or pastels. Every artist in every medium has at one point during their artistic journey, struggled with color.

Color is one of the most difficult things to master as an artist. In fact, 72% of Artists say that color is the biggest obstacle to overcome. Its terribly frustrating because all you want to do is create art, yet you can’t seem to get over this confusing mountain of color! As Artists we shouldn’t be afraid of color. It should be something that we embrace with open arms.

You can master color and become the artist you have always dreamed of. You can learn how to think about color in a whole new way, a way that you never thought was possible. This is not hype!

I would like to introduce you to a spectacular new learning resource. Its a DVD course on mastering color that I just had the opportunity to watch and boy was I impressed! It was created by my good friend Richard Robinson from New Zealand.

This DVD called Mastering Color by Richard Robinson contains over 2 hours and 8 chapters worth of valuable information on:

1. Color Theory
2. Seeing Color
3. Describing Color
4. Value
5. Mixing Color
6. Manipulating Color
7. Color Harmony
8. Light Effects

You’ll Discover What Most Artist’s Don’t Know:

• How do Beginners & Masters use color?
• What seeing disabilities do we All Have?
• How does our brain trick us?
• What is “Color Constancy”?
• Do you paint with color Symbols?
• What defines a color?
• What is Birren’s Triangle?
• How can we use the Munsell Color System?
• What are the 3 dimensions of color?
• Why is color temperature important?
• How do you use a color checker?
• What’s the best way to see and analyze color?
• Why is value so important?
• What’s the best way to see & analyze value?
• How do we make a 9 value scale?
• Why is it so difficult to see color as a value?
• What is the key to value relationships?
• 7 Powerful exercises to master value
• Which colors should you buy?
• What’s the best color mixing wheel?
• How can you accurately match a color?
• How should you darken and lighten colors?
• What’s the key to color relationships?
• 5 Powerful exercises to master color
• How can you create a mood with color
• The 3 Keys to creating true vibrancy
• What makes color sing?
• Value segments and powerful halftones.
• Compressing values for richer color.
• What makes a memorable painting?
• What is ‘limited palette’ and ‘unifying light’?
• How useful are harmonic color schemes?
• What is a Yurmby Color Wheel?
• What is ‘Color Masking’?
• Are there shortcuts to color harmony?
• How to see and paint the true color of the light.
  … and more!

You will learn more about color after watching this one DVD then you will ever learn from books, classes, workshops or online. That is no exaggeration my friends.

If this is your first time visiting this website, then you don’t know me from Adam, but what I can promise you is this: I will never, ever, recommend any product or resource unless I believe it will drastically improve your skills as an artist, period.

What I learned From This Course

Color has always been one of my biggest problems as an artist, so when Richard told me about his new course, I immediately got my hands on a copy.   I have to admit I was a bit skeptical as I have seen my share of courses and books on color that did not live up to their promises.

After watching his course, that skepticism quickly turned into a belief that I could finally master color and become the accomplished artist I always wanted to be.

I had no idea that this course would be this informative and teach me so much about color. Richard’s course really got my brain working in a way I never thought possible and you can see evidence of this in several new posts I have written on the topic of color:

How To Mix an Endless Amount of Greens

How To Achieve Color Harmony In Your Paintings With a Limited Palette

Mastering Color – Simple Exercise To Help You Become a Better Painter Overnight

But the most important thing that I personally got out of this course was more confidence in my own abilities.  The stumbling block has been removed and I am ecstatic about my future as an artist and you will be too after buying this course!

Free Preview Video

And if that wasn’t enough to get you excited about owning a copy of this amazing DVD , below is a free preview video. This isn’t some short 3 minute sample of the DVD. Below is the entire first chapter of the Mastering Color DVD, absolutely free!

Some Final Words Before You Go…

I can’t recommend this course enough folks. It is hands down the best course I have seen on the topic of color.

You would expect to pay a fortune for a course as amazing as this, but just wait until you see the price! Trust me, you will be pleasantly surprised. Richard Robinson has made this course EXTREMELY affordable.

Well I have said my peace… It is now up to you to TAKE ACTION and get your hands on this course.

Follow this link RIGHT NOW for more details about this course as well as pricing and ordering information!

Compensated Affiliate Disclosure