river work: grays and complements

9x9 pastel and watercolor on Uart

Plein air work feeds my soul. There is nothing better than being out there. The idea in my mind when painting this was the use of grays. I think that near complements make the best grays. That means that instead of using red and green, use a red/violet and green or a cool lemon yellow and a blue/violet.  Now keep in mind that when complements are mixed together they neutralize or gray each other. Also when mixing the colors it's best if they are in the same temperature family or else they will appear muddy. For example use a cool red/violet mixed with  a cool green.
While mixing neutralizes, the opposite effect happens when they are placed side by side  Now those same colors become more brilliant.  Cool and warms can be used next to each other with amazing results. Skies love this kind of work.
Last, when glazing in very thin veils of complements, the effect is kind of a mix of the two (mixing and side by side) and appear delicate and delicious. Outdoors this glaze-like layering is easily done with use of a watercolor underpainting and then thin layers of pastel on top. In this case it is the pink underneath the blue green on top. I feel that pastels are really amazing for working en plein air.
That's it for today....paint on folks!