On December 1 I introduced Triadvent. Then, yesterday, I changed the rules: now that we are in the final week, I am reviewing the “best of”, my top 7 most fun paints to triad with in each category (red, yellow, blue.) I’m still combining them randomly.
Today I drew:
- Winsor & Newton – Gold Ochre (PY42)
- Holbein – Pyrrole Rubin (PR264)
- Daniel Smith – Indanthrone Blue (PB60)
Reference photo by Johannes Plenio on Unsplash
This was a really pleasant, flexible triad that leans dark-valued but still has enough chroma to mix a wide range of colors.
I thought this scene looked familiar after I painted it. It turns out I did the same scene for my “dark triad” way back when I first tried making these circle triad color wheels for Watercolor Triads class with Jane Blundell in early 2023.
I used the same red for that triad, plus Quin Gold (which I feel worked better for sunlight) and Payne’s Gray. The blue-leaning WN Payne’s Gray made nice dark greens, but I think the Indanthrone does a better job of capturing the violet-gray of pine bark.
I used to do my color wheels with red on the left! I don’t know why, but it looks wrong to me now.