Wouldn't it be nice to always be able to paint convincing values in your painting and to be able to lighten or darken any color effectively. In this Color & Atmosphere mini workshop you will learn how to tie colors and values together in your painting. Let me show you how to see and understand local color and value of any object in order to make a strong and convincing statement on your canvas. I will teach you how to use color to lighten and darken objects and how to bathe any painting with a sense of light.

This download of a Color Wheel is based on my arrangement of colors laid out on my palette. It represents the prismatic palette of primary and secondary colors. Red, Yellow Blue as the primaries and Orange, Green and Violet as the Secondaries. This allows you to paint anything under the sun. The value scale is inextricably linked to every color choice you make. It is how a painter simplifies effectively. 

Exercise 1. Everything we see can be thought about as a white or near white object, a middle grey object or as a black or near black object. Learning how to simplify down to these basic rules will go a long way to painting simply and convincingly.

These are invaluable tools for the painter. Using a color wheel that is based on the colors you actually put out on your palette, rather than just a standard store-bought one, goes a long way in helping to understand how to use color effectively. A value scale simply helps you to judge your values between white and black. For every single color that you mix up, there is a place on the value scale where it fits.

These are fundamentally sound rules that every painter needs to know. Spend time reading them and thinking about what is being stated. Understanding and incorporating these 7 rules will go a long way in helping you to make effective color choices in your paintings and help you show the viewer a true sense of light.

Exercise 2. As painters, we need to be able to give a color name to every object we are painting. We do this by naming it either a primary or secondary color. Then we need to determine the intensity of that color. This section will show you in detail how to think through this process. 

Exercise 3 will teach you how to change the temperature of any color. It's a bit of a juggling act but it's an important part of getting effective light into your paintings. Once it is practiced and understood, it helps to simplify the painting process and stamps a painting with a sense of truth.

In these demos I will show you how to do exercises 2 & 3. It is imperative that you watch the demos all the way through. Refer to your notes that I've provided as you complete the exercises.

In this section, you will learn how the atmosphere affects color and values in the landscape. You will watch a demo and I'll paint a landscape for you in full color. Then you will paint a landscape of your choosing.

Some final thoughts.