Pastel by student, Patty Rios after taking Color Theory I. Patty says, “My first pastel work after taking the CT workshop. I went for a tetrad. I did my value study first then decided on the color scheme of blue violet + yellow orange and red violet + yellow green. I really felt like I learned something! “
Like watching television in black and white and then suddenly being able to see a favorite program in color, the workshop, Color Theory I, seemed to open up new worlds in art from the first day.
I had learned how challenging mediums in color could be, simply by trial and error. While these attempts produced a few happy accidents, there were also many unhappy ones. The color theory workshop ended the guesswork with a logical explanation of the “how and why” of color.
Beginning with primary colors, we learned how color temperature affects our perception of an image, and how to create various tints, shades and hues.
I’ve read plenty of material on color matching and making, but it certainly couldn’t go the distance that the hands-on workshop approach gave. Rather than stabbing in the dark to make and use the desired color, mixing and applying paint to make color wheels and color value charts allowed us to experience the performance of the paints and colors first-hand, and the charts are a wonderful tool for future reference.
Painting may be an art, but color theory is a science, and I found the hands-on, technical instruction to be invaluable.
