Beginning a painting with a plan is a good habit. If you have an idea about your composition and colors before you pick up a brush or pastel you have a better chance for success.
It helps to know what colors you want to use in a painting and using a color wheel and choosing a COLOR SCHEME or recipe leads to more harmonious paintings.
My COLOR RECIPE worksheet was designed to help you work with color schemes and make important color swatches of the colors you will use in your scheme. Here is some information from my blog on using the worksheet:
-You need a color wheel to help you choose the color recipe you want to use. If you aren't familiar with color theory or working with color schemes I recommend you get a good book. I highly recommend Nita Leland's books on color: "Exploring Color Workshop 30th Anniversary Edition" and "Confident Color" These books are my go-to books on color.
-Once you have selected the recipe or scheme you want to use it is time to pick your palette of pastels that fit the scheme. This is where it is easy to get confused. I find that if I make little marks or color swatches I have a visual reminder of the colors I can use in my scheme.
-I like worksheets. They keep me focused, organized and on task. They make me PLAN rather than skip over or forget an important step. I created a worksheet for using color recipes/schemes. The worksheet gives me a place to make marks of the colors I will use and I carefree to the worksheet as I paint making sure I stay true to my scheme.
TIP 1: The worksheet allows you to choose your main colors and gives you room to make swatches of the variations of these colors. A color scheme can include a variety of values and intensities of each color. For example if blue is in your scheme you can have pure intense blues as well as grayed blues....light blues to dark blues. This add variety to your scheme while keeping the color harmony.
TIP 2: A scheme should have unequal amounts of each color and usually have one color as the dominant color.
Once the colors for the scheme are selected I like to make a quick and very rough color map to show how the colors relate.
This download can be viewed on your computer and printed for your personal use.
ABOUT ME:
I am a professional artist and instructor. I paint everyday and share my work and art thoughts on my daily painting blog 'Painting My World'. I am a Signature member of the Pastel Society of America, Member of Excellence of the Southeastern Pastel Society and in the Master's Circle of the International Association of Pastel Societies. I am represented by several fine galleries in the Southeast. I also teach painting classes and workshops in the Atlanta area.
This pastel worksheet is adapted from one of my classes. I hope you enjoy it and I welcome your feedback. Look for new lessons and demos coming soon.
*Please note that this is a digital file and not a physical handout. All rights are reserved and it is for your personal use only. Please do not share or make copies other than for your own use*
