3 Random Color Palette Paintings... Challenge Accepted!

What happens if I take this book, flip to a random page of a color palette, do that three times, and make three different paintings of the same subject using just those colors? Let's find out together. In the previous episode, we explored playthrough color and brought back to the original way of play. I started a new color library for myself to be able to see the colors a little refresher. And think of this like a part two where it's time to take these colors, play with new color combos, and see what else we can learn. In this video, we're going to answer the question whether a color palette changes the mood of the painting, and together we'll continue to play with color and keep learning on how it'll affect our art for the better. Because we do want to keep growing, right? I quickly want to show you a few different ways I have played with color in the past. Besides making paintings, I like playing with little abstract pieces to play with texture. Little color studies are super helpful with color charts and playing with triads. We did this together in a video on the channel, so I'll have it linked in case you missed it. But it really helps to do this in the studio and study because when you're out on location, or even making a larger painting, you've taken your notes and you've played with your color and you can intuitively grab them when doing the paintings. Plus, color is so fascinating and there's always so many new palettes you can discover through your study process. And here's how we're going to do that together today. Now speaking of new discoveries, this is a new book I picked up that I mentioned in the previous video as well, sharing different patterns from the 16th and 17th century. We see a photo on the right and on the left, a rectangle mimicking the colors from the patterns. But we won't be doing the patterns today. We're actually going to use this book as an inspiration for color play, helping inspire a pattern for three different paintings using a color palette from the pages of this book. I've already began with the sketch. I decided to do three versions, so I'm going to be exploring three different color palettes. For that, we're going to need three different sketches. The subject for today's painting is featuring the sacred art of braiding hair. It's known as an ancient tradition, but more on that later throughout the video. I really like how the toned sketchbook works with gouache and doing some color play in there, so I'm using a toned paper for today. And I'm beginning with a mechanical pencil drawing, and then another, and then another. You learn so much by redrawing and redrawing again. This specific hand position of her doing her braid, there's a certain energy to the hands themselves. So with every drawing and every one that I've redrawn, I've learned a different way to draw the hand that has shown improvements and just something just to learn for myself. This is part of the creative practice, is taking the time, even if it takes a bit longer, to do the extra sketch, to do the extra color swatch, because that information is not only information for you, it's you learning what works and what doesn't. And that only happens by doing it. For each sketch, I wasn't focusing too much on making them identical, and instead wanted to see how they organically evolve throughout each one. And this is to show that no matter how many times you do an artwork, it all comes out unique to each time. After completing the sketches, it was time to pick the color palettes. I took some time to go through the book in this stage, and in the sketch is the time where I slow down and read a little bit of the excerpts and just find myself fully enthralled in the process, and I don't rush this. And then I thought it would be quite interesting if I just closed my eyes and flipped to a random page and let that be the deciding factor. Whatever page I landed on was the page that I marked with a little bookmark, and I did this three times, flipped to another random page, and once again marked the palette. Coincidentally, this is the cover of the book, and I think it's a great one to start with, and the other ones are quite different. So we will see what this challenge brings on. I'm going to start off with the first color palette, and I'm going to be playing around with the color palette itself on the left of the page, and then I'll be completing the color version on the right. That is the plan. Part of the fun and playing challenge of this is going to be to match the colors that I see in the book and the palette to the paints themselves. So I laid out some olive, some burnt sienna, raw sienna. This is like a middle of that little brown right there. So not only am I going to be playing with the color, but it's also going to be a test to be able to mix and match the colors, which is a fantastic way to study. I started swatching on the left page, and then I got right to the painting. As soon as I started painting, I found different colors and tubes that I recently got to see if I can test them out and match the color exactly. That blue added a little bit of cypress green, and this palette was generally very blue and a very green palette as well. I started off with the darkest, darkest blue for the hair, and since I didn't have an actual skin tone in this palette, it's actually a great limitation to test yourself and push the limits. Fully trust yourself, your skills, and the process. I had a warmer raw sienna and burnt sienna on the palette that was helpful for the warmer tones, so I included them in the skin and in the cheeks. And immediately, the limitations of this palette taught me how much blues and greens we actually have when we're painting skin tones. This was a game and play on what color to put where and why, but I was just trying to trust my instinct and intuition. And this palette has this olive color, so I added it towards the contour, almost like the background of the painting. I gained a momentum and a flow and added expressive brush marks and just got lost in the process. I have to say, this is the first time I ever used a color palette like this, especially for skin tones. I was over the moon and quite in love with it. With the colors given, you automatically realize how many different mixtures you can make, which is why I believe this is one of the best ways to practice and play. Now it's time to work on the hands a little bit, and as I do, I want to let you know this video is kindly sponsored by Squarespace. I took the warmest color that I had on this palette specifically, which was that mid-raw sienna, burnt sienna mix, and I started slowly adding that into the knuckle areas, the tips of the fingers, and I played off of the greens and the blues of the fabric in the skin as well. As you guys know, I just recently relaunched my website, and with the help of Squarespace, I was able to do it all on my own. This is the all-in-one place for you to build your website, customize it to your liking, and have a multifunctional use. Some new features that I've been personally utilizing on my site is the newsletters that I also do through Squarespace. They allow you to put a newsletter block so people can sign up. They have awesome analytics for you to keep up with as well, and their user-friendly interface is what won me over in the first place. You can give it a try with a free trial by going to squarespace.com, and when you're ready to launch, go to squarespace.com forward slash jesscarp for 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain. Although this palette had a really dark blue for the darkest dark, I had no black on the palette for this round. I actually mixed this really dark blue using an indigo and a prussian blue, and to deepen it, I added just a dot of perylene violet to just deepen that darkest blue. Part of study and play for me is to write down the colors, write down the mixtures, take note of it, kind of like a little scientist, and I always love to see the way the palette looks in the end. And here's the finished result of our first one. I am completely shocked because I've never really just used these colors, and I am in love. I think this one came out great, but we've got two more to do. Check out how satisfying this palette looks by the painting. So this is to show that pattern can inspire a whole palette for a portrait as well. This next palette that I flipped through ahead of time by surprise is the complete opposite. There are really no blues in this next one, and it's all going to be shades of reds. Now there are some siennas and golden mustard yellows here as well, but no blues really, just a very warm palette. So I'm really curious to see how this will translate into this next portrait painting. When you practice a little bit more and you keep painting and trying different iterations, you realize that you approach the paintings with more confidence and spunk. The initial stages of the painting, I began laying in the colors with bold marks and just trying to cover as much space as possible before starting to add the transition colors. This palette had a really dark black brown-ish color, and then the red was a magenta, almost like a raspberry. To mix that, I used magenta and a little bit of cadmium red deep, and I also had cadmium red light on the palette for that brighter red. This palette felt like a modification similar to the Zorn palette, just some warmer reds. And coming from a very cool palette from our first one, this was very refreshing to bring a little bit of warmth and a lot of bit of warmth into the painting too. To share a bit more about the subject of these paintings and just the sacred art of braiding hair, to braid hair and braiding hair is an ancient tradition. For women and for men across all different cultures, braiding can be quite meditative. It's also very soothing, and it brings back the best memories of when I was younger, also with my mom braiding my hair or just learning how to braid my hair. It's a language of heritage. It builds bonds. And the three strands or four strands, and there's different ways to braid hair, they all have symbolism and meaning. So you can definitely read upon it if you'd like to more. I find every topic fascinating. So whenever I am researching or even creating a painting, I go deep dive into the depths of the meanings of things, which helps me stay creative and curious, and also deepens the meaning of the painting and the process itself. Painting with this second color palette confirmed the importance of color and how it changes the mood and feel of your artwork. So while you're painting and playing, ask yourself, how does this color palette make me feel? So for this palette, we have a lot of worms and siennas. And I decided to do the hair the darker color, which is like this brownish black, almost a little bit magenta-ish in there. So I decided to make the hair that darker value. And instead of the blue colors from the previous color palette test, I decided to make it red. And the darker folds are more magenta. And I learned a lot by looking at Anders Zorn paintings. This one is fantastic. And there is actually a painting that he uses majority is red. So I learned a lot by looking at that, referencing that and applying that to the fabric that I see in this painting. We've got the first two palettes ready. And now we're going to test out one more. This next palette was quite different from the others. It was very neutral and a lot of pale colors. I wasn't sure how I was going to do it, but I trusted that I could. And I had to record and share this video of what the palette was doing while painting. All part of play. I find it so fascinating and incredible to see. This burnt sienna color is the darkest color for this palette. So I chose it for the hair. And immediately it was quite frustrating not to add such deep contrast. But this is part of the challenge. And this is part of this exact color palette. And I know and had a feeling it had something to teach me. Matching this blue in this palette particularly, which was the cool color here, was a beautiful lesson in and of itself. It was quite neutral and it wasn't so bright. So I had to mix in a bit of its complement, which is orange. So I used a little bit of burnt sienna and orange to tone down that blue. Quite a lot actually. It's quite easy to make everything bright and saturated in paintings. So this palette taught me the beauty in neutral colors. Desaturating everything to make the bright colors really pop. At first I wasn't quite sure how to incorporate this bright mustard yellow amongst all of these neutral colors. But I ended up incorporating into the hair and a little bit of the sleeves. And almost like the lighting was coming from the left. The limitations and constraints and uncertainties often lead to quite beautiful revelations. Especially in paintings. And I couldn't help it. But I really loved the way that the pencil was showing through. And I intentionally left it. And then brought it back just a little bit with some colored pencil. It took some ample time to write down all the mixtures. Just so I have note of it for next time. In case I ever want to use these palettes again. I soaked up all the gratitude for being able to create and practice. And I was left with deep satisfaction and love for what I created today. These were such a beautiful practice and I hope you enjoyed. Thank you so very much for watching and for being here. Stay playful, stay curious. And I will catch you in the next one.