I just read all what I wrote and realised it's kind of a rant here, sorry but I am covering colour a bit!
Lookin at the 'ol colour wheel, bluey colors are opposite fleshy colours =) so yeah opposite colours compliment, we kinda learnt that once upon a time I remember - I may be completely wrong though :)
tho my colour knowledge is fairly minimal,
I think any reflected light can look cool if you do it well - mmm a nice green light can look good,
if you want some techy jargon, I am reading this book "colour" (second edition, ooh :)
kinda boring lol probably cos reading doesn't help me much.
anyway. here's some technical jargon - may or may not interest you, probably not.
ARTISTS, architects etc. "They may use color in three ways to impose these sensations" - local, or objective color, optical color and arbitary color. <- so yeah 3 ways
"Local color is the most natural. It reproduces the effect of colors as seen in white daylight, exactly as we expect them to be, blue sky, red barn, green grass. When the artist has a highly realistic style, the composition is rendered in exact colors and values"
"Optical color reproduces hues as seen in lighting conditions other than white daylight: in the rain or thunder at sunset or indoor lighting. Again the compositionn is rendered in a somewhat naturalistic way"
"Arbitary color allows the artist to impose his or her feelings and interpretations of color onto the images. Here, natural color is abandoned for the artist's choice. A gray stone bridge may be executed in warm oranges and beiges if the artist wants to impart a feeling of vitality and warmth - as in EXPRESSIONISTS"
K so there you have it, some pointless crap that probably doesn't relate to the thread, but it may be some colour theory that might help someone sometime. I'd go for arbitary colour all the way =))
What is worth looking into is the different contrast options you can use in your composition - infact as far as i am aware complimentary harmonies etc are nowhere near as important as use of contrasts; well this is what I have been lead to believe in my search for knowledge on creating a sucessful painting. um, so harmonies are not a starting point. contrast are compositional tools, contrast of value, contrast of saturation, and um simultaneous contrast is apparently the most important, er according to my notes. Problem is I have forgotten what simultaneous contrast is - will have to relook it up lol
if it is a mood you wish to convey in your piece, using colours, maybe a little research on colour psychology would help. though I generally do this by picking colours that make me feel nice hehe, then it's always useful to know other things. like you know when you see a painting, you go ooooh i love this, it is VERY nice to know why you love it, and how you can use it in your own paintings.
I guess what I am trying to say is I wouldn't worry too much about your opening question, I think you have bigger fish to fry when you are thinking about making a sucessful painting, that thing seems like further down the road. something to think about when you know all the basics, to say blue makes skin looks good doesn't really help a beginner (like me)
I saw you don't like phoeni, so i might start calling you corndog, or corndawg if we wanna go all gangsta - i might start doing something on your learning thread, seems like you're keen to learn stuff and so am I. and daaamnn there's a lot to cover! it will all pay off one day though =0
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