Make Your Subject Look Special

This is my favorite painting from all the demonstrations I did for my watercolor class this term.

I was demonstrating many ways of making you image look ‘special’.  In this case, I started with color around the figure, then added water and let the edges fade out.

The opposite, which also works, would be to make it darker around the edges, getting lighter in value as it approached the figure or center of interest.

Limited Palette

I promote using a limited palette, five colors at most for one painting.  (I’ve read that with only three colors, you can mix over a million different shades.)  I’m finding it true in my oils, as well as my watercolors.

Using a limited palette will make your paintings look more professional, as everything will be unified by color.