Color Study in Oil: Analogous

One of our biggest assignments in my first oil painting class was to paint one image four times, using a different color scheme for each painting.  It was the first time I’d painted in color and it was really scary at first!  But by the end I’d learned so much- I’m so happy I did it.  Here’s the first of four paintings,  this one is in an analogous color scheme (colors that are next to each other on the color wheel).  For this specific painting, we weren’t allowed to use white or black, but had to rely on our chosen colors to lighten and darken the painting.

Here are the first couple steps I took to block in the painting.

At first, I was using only a tube of yellow and a tube of blue paint and mixing them for the various shades of green.  It worked ok, but the painting was so boring.  My teacher suggested adding a couple tubes of green paint to the mix and it helped so much!  Look at the difference above verses below- the bottom painting almost glows in comparison!  There are some colors you just can’t mix on your own.