Painting of the Day — "Nightflowers"

"Nightflowers" 10" x 14" watercolor
Copyright Sara Light-Waller, 2014

Recently I began experimenting with color triads in watermedia. Color triads are three colors spaced evenly around a 12-color wheel.

Although "Nightflowers" is painted using the same three colors as the previous, 'Sunflowers" — Cadmium Orange, Phthalo Turquoise, and Magenta (which is close to Quinacridone Magenta) the effect is entirely different.

Beyond gaining a better understanding of how to use color triads, I had another goal for this painting. I wanted to simulate a common color scheme used by Golden-Age illustrator Edmund Dulac (1882 – 1953). His night and undersea scenes have a particular green-ish tone that I wanted to understand better. 

Illustration by Edmund Dulac

I think I got pretty close to it with "Nightflowers." Clearly, Dulac was using color triads in at least some of his paintings. Such a tricky boots! ;-)