Trick of Threes

When working on the petals I began with a basic light and dark red. As noted in a previous post, the depth didn't really appear until I traversed into the dark.

There is another technique I tend to forget until I get in duress. When I was putting the highlights on the petals I kept sticking to white for the highlight. With the red, I was only getting pink. I struggled for a while. Adding green had worked to get the shade for the dark side. What should I add for the highlights? Then I remembered the trick of threes.

In order to really get the effect I wanted I needed three separate colors, not just three shades of red. So, green in the shadows, yellow in the highlights. It worked. The petals popped.

It was incredible to watch it happen over and over again with each flower in the painting. Tricks of the trade... whadda ya know... they work!

The trick is in what one emphasizes.

~Carlos Castaneda