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© 1998, 1999, WetCanvas! |
[ Home: ArtSchool Online: Watercolors: Creating Dominance with Hue, Value, and Intensity ]
Creating Dominance with Hue, Value, and Intensity
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© 1998, 1999, WetCanvas! |
| Most successful paintings have an area of dominance or a focal point. This area stands out from the rest of the painting because the artist has arranged or orchestrated the color values, hues, and intensities in such a way that their contrast with the surrounding areas draws attention. | |
 When everything is equal in value and intensity, nothing stands out. In this first example, everything is competing for our attention because every object and section of the painting is approximately equal in value and intensity. Our eyes don't know where to "land" or focus, because each area of the painting demands equal attention. |
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 Now
look at the second example. Where does your eye end up? Where
does it return to over and over, even after exploring all of
the painting? If you said "the barn" you would be right!
Here the intense red of the barn contrasts with the relative
"dullness" or lowered intensities of the other colors,
so that the barn becomes the focal point or the dominant element
in the painting. If you want to use color intensity to create
dominance, remember to use the "purest" color you can
(i.e. not mixed with any other color). |
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These color values are also lighter and warmer, and generally, lighter warmer colors will pull foreward and attract more attention than darker cooler ones. |
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 Finally,
look at the last example. What is the dominant area or focal
point here? If you said the sky area you would be correct again.
This is accomplished by making the sky the purest most intense
color,and also the area with the most contrast in value. The colors in the rest of the painting have all been dulled or lowered in intensity. How do you lower intensity (or dull) a color? By mixing it with its complement. For a wonderful explanation of watercolor pigment complements, see Michael Wilcox's book, Blue & Yellow Don't Make Green, Rockport Publishers. |
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| Ellen Fountain on Her Art: "I was born in Lewiston, Idaho and spent my first five years there. Our family then moved to the north fork of Moon Creek, a few miles from a small mining town (Kellogg) near Lake Coeur d'Alene. My work as a watercolor artist today has been enormously influenced by that move." | |
 Ellen
Fountain has been working primarily in watercolors since the
early 1970s. She has exhibited in over 100 invitational, solo
and juried shows, and has won over 4 dozen awards since 1982,
one third of which are national awards outside of her home state
of Arizona. She teaches workshops and classes in many locations,
and loves sharing her knowledge with others.Ellen is a contributing editor to Wetcanvas, and be reached via email at efountain@access1.net. For more information on Ellen and her wondrous watercolor works, visit her online studio at www.fountainstudio.com. |
In the
third example, I dulled or lowered the intensity of the colors
in the background of the painting, including the barn, and intensified
the colors in the foreground, so that it pulls our attention
to the grassy