Tiny Teacup, Snippet #16

Diane Mannion, Tiny Teacup, Snippet #17, 2.5x3.5"oil on linen

      First entry into this week's Challenge at Daily Paintworks... I'm planning on painting  two more.  I used ONLY orange, purple, and white for this painting.  The teacup and background were white in my setup, which I painted from life.  I'm interested in seeing how the exact same subject will look painted in just red and green, then in blue and yellow.  I haven't followed the challenge exactly according the Layne Cook's directions.  Ended up taking the exercise in a slightly different direction but used the same basic principles.

      For this rendering, I thought of purple as my dark/cool color, and orange as my light/warm color.  When opposite compliments are mixed, they become muted.  When purple is next to orange it will vibrate, especially if purple is made to be lighter than orange.  Same thing happens with all complementary colors. 

      To take this exercise to another level, it would be interesting to also allow black in the mixture.  These principals are covered at great length in a book Carol Marine recommended: THE YIN/YANG OF PAINTING, Zhang and Woolley.
      Forgot to mention:  Made the teacup myself... it's only about two inches tall, great for expresso or saki.