from Eric Jacobsen

Color harmony is something that often gets overlooked in painting. There is a lot of talk about design, about value, and people often mention warm and cool colors. But, something that is really important is to consider finding a complement somewhere in your scene. When you have a scene in front of you with something like the strong blue sky in the painting below, look to find the complement somewhere. If there is a strong blue, look to find an orange. If you have a lot of green, look to find some reds. When we have a dominant color, our eyes and the viewers' eyes need some relief. It is a natural thing to need that relief, but we often have to produce it for the viewer.

It is an amazing experience out in the field when you learn to see those complements. It will surprise you how much you see them when you start really thinking about them. In the painting above, Eric’s painting has a dominant, bluish tone with complementing oranges. The blue sky was so strong, and the orange trees in front go nicely with that sky. When Eric was painting this, the actual scene had yellow trees. Eric took the trees and pushed them more toward an orange color as opposed to keeping them bright yellow. You can see how the orange complements the dominant blue color more than a bright yellow would.

Eric wants to remind us that we should not be afraid to tip a color in a different direction if it will contribute to the painting and enhance the color harmony. It will give you great results if you aren’t afraid to make a few changes.

Study the world of color, composition, and technique as Eric shares his wealth of knowledge and experience through his video series: