GALLERY III
EXPRESSIVE COLOR
Pure color has an immediate and almost physical expressiveness, an emotional charge all its own, quite apart from the subject you’re sketching. This is why some sketchers will insert a blast of red where there is no red, or a note of bright turquoise. These colors may not reflect what’s in the scene, but the sketcher is using color expressively and with purpose: to trigger a sensation in the viewer or to make a statement.
Using expressive color is often intentional. Even where the color actually occurs in the scene, the artist is turning up the volume or tone to draw the eye or stir up excitement. As we saw in the previous gallery, expressive color can be so insistent that it becomes the subject of the sketch.
INMA SERRANO
Parque de Mouchao, Tomar, Portugal
8.25” × 11.4” | 21 × 29 cm; Pentel brush pen, Sailor calligraphy fountain pen with De Atramentis Document Black ink, Viviva color sheets in Laloran watercolor sketchbook
Obey Your Own Sense of Color
It’s fascinating to sit with a group of sketchers painting the same scene. Once we’re done and start comparing, each sketch looks completely different! We’ve been facing in the same direction, at the same time of day, in identical weather. Yet we’ve seen and expressed color in remarkably individual ways, channeling our own very different personalities into our work.
Try ignoring the colors you see and introducing your own. Note Inma Serrano’s strategically placed bright pinks and reds—even in unexpected places such as the sky. By varying the size of these “rogue” colors, she creates a pattern that dances across the sketch.
INMA SERRANO
San Paedro Kalea, Hondarribia, Guipuzcoa, Spain
11.4” × 16.5” | 29 × 42 cm; Liquid watercolor, fountain pens, colored pencil, mixed-media paper
Painting from a hotel rooftop in Marrakesh, A. Rmyth’s bold brushstrokes and fully saturated acrylic color conjure a vibrant panorama of the Atlas Mountains below.
A.RMYTH
Rooftop View, Kasbah Bab Ourika, Morocco
11.7” × 49.6” | 29.7 × 126 cm; Acrylic paint
“Even if I do not have a clearly defined color palette, over the years I have noticed a tonal tendency. Only the color intensity changes, reflecting the intensity of light related to latitude.”
—A.RMYTH
PAUL WANG
Old Blue House in Vientiane, Laos
8.25” × 11.8” | 21 × 30 cm; Watercolor and pencil on hot pressed watercolor paper
“Bright colors are like strong spices. Use them sparingly to accent and highlight.”
—Paul Wang
GÉRARD DARRIS
Lorient, Stadium Louis Allainmat
11.8” × 8.25” | 30 × 21 cm; Staedtler pigment liners, Pentel brush pen, blue gouache, orange watercolor
“The soccer team of Lorient, nicknamed ‘the hakes’ (this is an important fishing port!), played this evening. The color of the team’s shirt is orange. I chose to mark this dramatic event with an orange sky.”
—Gérard Darris