SKETCHBOOK ASSIGNMENT: More Than 10 ORANGE Exercises to Try

For these sketchbook exercises and color studies, you'll need the following:

A sketchbook, pencils, black pen, gold pen, colored pencils and watercolor pencils, markers, and -- okay -- an eraser, if you must.  Also, a watercolor sketchbook, if you have one, or small pieces of watercolor paper, and watercolor paints and brushes.




Try a few, or all, of these ORANGE exercises --


1.  PUMPKINS -- Draw a pumpkin, with pencil.  Then, add color with colored pencil.  Layer the colors, starting with yellow first . . .

Now, try another pumpkin -- this time, drawing with pencil, and then painting with watercolors.  Add a patterned cloth at its base.  Once again, start with an underpainting of yellow . . . 

2.  ORANGE FLOWERS 

- Draw a Daylily, or another orange flower, with pencil.  Color it with colored pencils . . . 

Look at a bouquet of orange flowers, or part of a bouquet, and start painting the colors and shapes, without drawing first.  Mix the oranges right on your paper.  Let that dry -- and then come in with a black ink drawing on part of it. . . 

3.  PAINT A "FEELING" OF FALL -- Don't draw first, just paint a simple little landscape, using oranges and other autumn colors . . . 

4.  ORANGE FRUIT -- Buy some orange fruit -- preferably, the kind you like, so you can eat it after you're finished drawing/painting.

- Draw a few pears and an apple on a ledge.  Add a pattern on the "tablecloth".  Mingle your oranges on the fruit.  Paint a violet background, and then paint the pattern.

- Zoom in on your orange fruit and fill up the page with the shapes -- to make it almost abstract.  Draw contour lines with a gold pen, and then mingle the orange colors within the fruit.  Paint some darks in your background.

5.  COLOR MIXING --  

- Flesh-Tones -- Do a page of Fleshtone mixtures -- which is really just pale orange.

Make notations right on the page, so that you remember what colors you used.

- Orange Grid (a la Paul Klee) --  Draw a grid of square, and in each one, make a notation of the color you will try to achieve there.  (Be sure to include one Blue square, for contrast).  Then paint each square, either directly (from the tube, or mix on the palette first); wet-in-wet mingling (use water first, and mix on the paper); 

6.  CARROTS -- Buy some carrots, with the greens still attached.  They are more fun to draw and paint that way.  Draw them, and then paint with watercolor.  Do a yellow underpainting on the carrot and greens.  Then paint the rest of the background a light blue.  Mingle the colors in the carrots, using yellow, orange, and a warm red like Cadmium Red.  Leave some of the yellow showing, especially in the middle of the carrot, to give it a rounded look.  Then use the blue to paint a cast shadow.

7.  ORANGE-LINE DRAWING/PAINTING -- Set up a still-life, or look at your pet.  (Use a photo, if your pet won't sit still.)  Mix up an orange paint with your watercolors, and start "drawing" the shapes with your brush and the orange mixture -- no pencil drawing first.  Keep drawing shapes until you run out of paper.  Then, fill in the shapes with mingled colors -- exaggerate the colors!  Paint up to the orange line, but not over it, so that you get the nice contrast.

8.  AUTUMN LEAVES -- Collect some leaves from outside, and draw/paint a few small leaf studies.

9.  DO SOME DOODLES -- Draw some doodles with black ink, add a patterned background, and color with colored markers, especially orange.

 

10.  FACES -- Paint a few ORANGE under-paintings on small pieces of watercolor paper.  Then, using a black pen, draw a face on each one.  (Either find random faces from magazines, or use my examples here.)  Title and date your faces.

Orange you glad there aren't eleven of these?  

ORANGE: 10 Things Every Watercolorist Should Know About This Color

"Orange is the happiest color."  - Frank Sinatra

It seems like the perfect time of year to concentrate on the color ORANGE -- when the greens in nature are turning to golds and oranges; when the farmers' markets are filled with pumpkins, orangey-red apples, and yellow-orange gourds and squashes; and, when the Denver Broncos, with their orange and blue uniforms, start their season. (Sorry -- I'm a football fan!)

Fun and flamboyant ORANGE radiates warmth and energy -- and is epitomized by the glow of the setting sun, the flames of a campfire, fall foliage, and it's namesake citrus fruit.

Here are 10 things that I think every watercolorist should know about this color, along with 10 "orange" paintings of mine, and 10 quotes about the color orange:

1.  ORANGE sparks more controversy than any other hue.  There is usually a strong positive or a strong negative association to this color.  But, certain tones of orange, like terra cotta, peach, coral, and rust, have a broader appeal than a true orange.  

"Everyone knows that Yellow, Orange, and Red suggest ideas of joy and plenty.  I can paint you the skin of Venus with mud, provided you let me surround it as I will."  - Eugene Delacroix

2.  ORANGE is a secondary color, made up of Red and Yellow.  And so, it is very vibrant and shares attributes of both Red and Yellow.  All three colors are very useful in autumn landscapes.

"Reds, Yellows, and Oranges conjure up sunlight and fire, while the Blues and Blue-Greens evoke snow and ice, sea, sky, and moonlight."  - Anonymous

3.  You don't need a tube ORANGE on your palette, since it is easy to mix an Orange with any Red and Yellow.  You can mix many different shades, between Red-Orange and Yellow-Orange.  And, many of the tube Oranges are not lightfast, so I always mix my oranges.  A really beautiful orange is made with New Gamboge and Quinacridone Rose.  I even use that mixture, watered down, for flesh color in my portraits.  You can try a color exercise grid, to see all the various Oranges that you can mix -- with your Reds across the top and Yellows down the side.

"I can see the orange haze on the horizon, as the morning exhales a yawn, 

and seems to be ready to rise".  - Jeb Dickerson

4.  An invaluable "ORANGE", that you should have on your palette, is Quinacridone Burnt Orange -- which is similar to Burnt Sienna, but is very transparent and mixes well.  It is more transparent and intensely-colored than the earth pigment, Burnt Sienna.  And, it's especially good to use when you need a brown, other than in a landscape.  

" . . . Frizzy Orange curls grow in her wild hair, like snapdragons pleading for water."  - Paul Gardner

5.  The shades of Burnt Sienna -- still a tried and true color -- vary considerably, from brand to brand.  This natural, unsaturated Orange "earth" color, is originally from Sienna in Italy.  It is great for landscapes, and the appropriate blue for the sky, when using Burnt Sienna, is Cerulean Blue.

"There is no Blue, without Yellow and without Orange."  - Vincent Van Gogh

6.  The complement of ORANGE is Blue.  When placed right next to each other, they really pop.  Mix them into each other to create Browns.  Orange and French Ultramarine, especially, make colorful neutrals.

"Who in the rainbow can draw the line where the violet tint ends and the orange tint begins?  

Distinctly we see the difference of the colors, but where exactly does the one first blindingly enter into the other?  So with sanity and insanity."  - Herman Melville

7.  A very versatile and effective complementary color combo is Quinacridone Burnt Orange and French Ultramarine.  This is a good 2-color scheme, especially for landscapes.  When mixed together, these two colors make a lovely gray (somewhat like Payne's Gray).  When your painting is mostly Orange, the French Ultramarine can be added to make a nice dark.

"Orange is Red brought nearer to humanity by Yellow."  - Wassily Kandinsky

8.  ORANGE is a warm color, that visually comes forward.  It can have an exciting effect in a painting.  Orange is one of those colors that really stands out, even in the distance, as if to shout, "Hey, look at me!"

"My mum taught me that redheads shouldn't wear Pink, Red, or Orange, but if you choose the right shade, such as a Bright Orange or a Cherry Red, it can look fabulous."  - Jane Asher

9.  One good use for a Cadmium ORANGE is to spatter it on top of a very dark wash.  Because it's heavy, it will just settle and add some interest to a big field of dark color.  But, never just glaze a Cadmium Orange wash over a dark wash.  

"The majority of painters, because they aren't colorists, do not see Yellow, Orange, or sulphur in the South of France, and they call a painter mad if he sees with eyes other than theirs." - V. Van Gogh

10.  ORANGE is the new Black.  I don't know what that means, but it's the name of a popular new TV show on Netflix.  I thought you should know that :)

COLOR PROJECT: Painting a Sunset Using a Primary Triad

In this watercolor exercise, we will be using a Primary Triad as a color scheme.  We'll paint a simple sunset with just 3 watercolor pigments and minimal drawing . . . 

I chose a version of the Primary Triad -- Magenta/Yellow/Blue.  I used Quinacridone Magenta, Aureolin Yellow, and Cobalt Blue.  This bold and energetic color scheme should work well for painting a sunset.  

So, prep your watercolor paper (approx 6" x 8"), and your three pigments.  These are the only three pigments you will use for this exercise.

After wetting the paper with clear water, apply each of the colors using horizontal strokes.  Start with the blue across the top, then brush on the magenta (overlapping the blue a little), then the yellow (overlapping some of the magenta), then the blue again (overlapping some of the yellow).  Carry the blue all the way to the bottom.

If you have puddles of paint/water, set the paper/board on its side, so that the paint will run off.  Then, lay it flat to dry.  

When it is totally dry, use a pencil and a template to draw a small circle for the sun.  This should be in the bottom third of your painting.

You will also need some masking fluid and some way to apply it.  (I use a quill pen, which is super easy to clean and works great for small shapes and delicate lines.)  I pour a little masking into another small container and add a little bit of water, just to thin it.  It still resists the paint, but it makes it easier to apply.

Apply a thin layer of the masking fluid to the moon shape, using a quill pen.  Try to get an even line around the edge of the shape.  Rinse off the nib of the pen, and then clean it off with your fingers, so it's ready for the next time.  

Make sure the masking fluid is dry before you start painting again.  

Prep some more of those same three colors.  Wet your paper again, and this time, starting with the yellow,  brush on your paint in a circular motion.  Paint right over the "moon" and continue beyond that, then paint the magenta in a circle, overlapping the yellow a little.  Then, finish with the blue, overlapping the magenta and then taking the blue out to the corners and edges.  Let this dry flat.

After the paint is completely dry, remove/rub off the masking from the moon shape.

Using those same 3 colors again, paint the horizontal stripes again.  (Wet the paper first.)  Paint in this order:  Blue, Magenta, Yellow, and Magenta.  (No blue at the bottom.)

While this dries, clean off the blue from your palette.  Then, mix the yellow and magenta together, with some water, to make an "orange-y" wash.

Using this wash, paint the bottom third of your paper, forming the ground.  Overlap the bottom of the moon.  It doesn't have to be an even edge, and you can draw it in pencil first, if you want.  When this just starts to dry, make one or two horizontal passes with a damp brush.

Clean off the orange mixture from your palette, and mix up a purple mixture, using the magenta and the blue.

Use this purple mixture to paint over the orange shape, leaving just a sliver of orange at the horizon.  When this just starts to dry, make a few horizontal strokes with a damp brush, to give it a little texture and let some of the orange color show through.

Exploring the interaction between colors is a never-ending process -- there's always something new to learn!