Almost Monochrome: Week 2

September 7, 2022

Mist coming Down
Acrylic by Jo
Pigments: Titanium White, Ivory Black, Yellow Ochre

The image above is of the same painting that featured in last week’s post but with white paint “scribbled” rather than scumbled over the surface. The coloured greys took on a greenish tinge as in the chart below.

**Indigo, Burnt Sienna and White Mixes**
This week I made a large mix of Ivory Black and Ultramarine Blue to make an indigo like colour.

This was then mixed with White and burnt Sienna as in the chart above. Note how much bluer the greys are when indigo is mixed with white. Also note that because Burnt Sienna is much redder than Yellow Ochre their is no greenish tinge to the coloured greys, they just get warmer as more Sienna is added.

Oumesnat, a Berber Village in Morocco
Acrylic by Jo
For this painting a large amount of an Ivory Black and Ultramarine Blue mix was made, then a monochrome painting created using this mix with varying amounts of Titanium White

This week we chose a dark pigment; black, burnt umber, Indigo or similar and added varying amounts of white to paint a monochrome picture.

Please photograph your painting at this stage then go on to identify another colour to enrich your painting. Explore a few colour mixes before homing in on the pigment you will use. Then think about how subtle or vibrant you want to make the added colour and make some colour swatches of mixes with white and the dark pigment used for the monochrome study. Last week I added Yellow Ochre; this week I will be adding Burnt Sienna and will post the result in a few days.

And here it is with subtle additions of Burnt Sienna and Burnt Sienna mixed with white and/or the Indigo used in the previous image. You may prefer the monochrome image but it’s great way to experiment with colour, and to create the illusion of recession in the landscape by a shift in tone as well as working with less saturated mixes of Burnt Sienna for the backdrop of mountains.

Either complete your painting during the week or at next week’s session when we will discuss adding a third colour into the mix. In any event please send an image of your colour mixes and a photo of the monochrome painting.

Your paintings: