Color Wheel

These are two pieces that I created showing different tints and shades of color using acrylic paint. In the piece on the left, I created two value scales, with the assignment being to make one for a primary color and one for a secondary color. I assumed the tints (color variation created by adding white) would look good and solid, but the shades (variations created by adding black) can sometimes be unexpected. For this reason I chose red and green for my colors because I thought the shades would be satisfactory, which they were. In the piece on the right, I drew a sunglass display containing sunglasses with gradient lenses to fulfill the requirement of incorporating 84 colors (three tints and three shades for each of the primary, secondary and tertiary colors) into a piece. I chose to do sunglasses because it allowed for a somewhat realistic setting that would incorporate all the colors. I made my sunglass stands and backgrounds basic shades of grey to create contrast with the bright colors.

To create the value scales, I first measured and drew two boxes separated into ten sections. Because red is a primary color, there was no mixing needed to get my initial color so I just added varying amounts of black and white to create the tints and shades. For the green value scale I mixed blue and yellow to make a satisfactory green and then went through the same process adding black or white to make the different colors. For the piece on the right, I first divided the canvas into three sections vertically and then four sections horizontally--for a totally of twelve sections. I then drew the twelve different frames using some of my own ideas and some styles from pictures online. At this point I began painting, starting with red in the top left corner and working down. I had finished two pairs before I remembered to paint the background in order to reduce the risk of painting over a foreground object with background color. When I had finished the background I began again. I incorporated all 84 colors by separating the lenses of each pair into five sections to accommodate for the three tints, the original color, and one shade. I then broke up the frames to incorporate the two remaining shades. However, some of the lighter colors--such as some of the yellows oranges and greens--didn't come out solid and required multiple coats.

The purpose of the values scales was to familiarize myself with mixing colors (specifically using acrylic paint) and mixing different tints and shades for those colors. The inspiration behind the sunglass piece was a sunglass display the I have in my house, containing various colorful pairs of sunglasses. I thought that sunglasses would be a good way to use a variety of colors, and by painting gradient lenses I only had to draw twelve different pairs. I think that to make this piece stronger I could put another coat of paint on some colors which aren't as solid as they could be--such as some of the reds and yellows--and strengthen my outlines, potentially in pain pen.