May 7, 2008


(161) High Chroma vs. High Key
There are a dozen more tetrads to discover, but I will save those for another day, and move on to another challenge. In the top study, I used the primary palette of yellow, red and blue and focused on higher chroma, more intense color. In the lower one, I chose the secondary palette of orange, violet and green and lots more white making it a high key, pastel study--totally different look and feel.
"When complements are placed side by side, they accentuate each other. If I want a blue to look very blue, I put an orange next to it. In fact, it's usually essential to get the complement working somewhere near the principal color, if only because a color needs its complement in order to exist. A red is not a red without a contrasting green to explain it"...Emil Gruppe

4 comments:

Terry said...

A very interesting study showing the differences in the two approaches! I was in a friend's studio today looking at his color studies - just so many ways to think about color!

Frank Gardner said...

That Gruppe had such a way of explaining stuff like that. It makes so much sense when it is put that way.
Do you have all of his books Faye?

These exercises are really well done. Great challenge to yourself. You will be glad you did them.

FCP said...

Thanks, Terry and Frank. The Gruppe books I have are the ones you recommended on your blog, Frank--they are excellent. Thanks for recommending them,
Faye

Frank Gardner said...

Great! chalk up one more Gruppe groupie.