Painting with a Limited Color Palette

Watercolor camel painted with a limited color palette

 As a continuation of my color experiments I decided to do a watercolor using a split complementary palette. I used my color cards to pick out colors I thought would best suit the subject matter, a stuffed East Indian camel that I have as part of a collection of similar animals. I chose four colors: Quinacridone Gold (yellow-orange), Buff Titanium (yellow), Serpentine Genuine (yellow-green), and Cobalt Blue Violet (blue-violet) for the complement.

I was happy with these color choices but because there was a lot of magenta in the original camel I decided to break my rule and add some Quinacridone Rose as well. Overall, I’m quite happy with the result, especially as I’m still getting my feet back under me in watercolor. However, I'm finding the addition of the Quin Rose a bit jarring to the overall color harmony. Perhaps next time I’ll fight the realism instinct and stick to mixes from my initially chosen colors. ;-)

Oh, and by the way, this piece is my Every Day Matters challenge # 31, draw something that you collect.