The next painting? How bright is bright?
I think this is going to be the next painting.
Dusk
If the light in the middle ground is the brightest area of the painting … where’s the darkest?
What does that mean for the color value of the sunset?
How would I make the colors richer and still maintain the highs and lows?
Hmmm. What color is the pier? It’s a very neutral something or other. Gray? The beam in the foreground is blue-ish and the little gazebo thing is red-ish on one side. Cool vs. warm neutrals.
Color Values
Check this out. If you’ve got a tube of Cadmium Red, how bright is it compared to Titanium White? I mean, red is a pretty bright color, it would seem. This chart below illustrates something I learned in my Colors class at the Torpedo Factory a few months ago.
The brightest colors right out of the tube, the powerhouses, are about half as bright as white. Or half as dark as black. That definitely changes the way I think about color.
Pantone Palette
That one was automatically generated with the Pantone app. This next one, the first two swatches I picked from inside the bright light. Notice how it’s not … white. Not even close! (There’s also a veeeery light gray in there.) The last three swatches are from the sunset.
Missile Mill: Painting & Photography 
One Response to “The next painting? How bright is bright?”
There is an app for that? Jeez, I think I’ve been an iPhone hater for about 1 day too long now officially…