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I am concerned with making paintings more engaging to the eye.
One way is to use contrasts of light and dark together. This is not easy. Say you have a red area. Next to it you put an area in a compatible but harmoniously vibrating colour, say violet. If the red is dark, you would assume adding white to the violet to make lavender would work, but it doesn't always work. If you make the red pink, so you can keep the violet dark, you get a large area of pink, which can be unattractive. Pink is a dangerous colour and does not go with dark violet.
Another way to create contrasts is putting black outlines on the forms and putting in streaks of white in various parts of the painting. Substituting pastel versions of the colours one is already using does not always work, because the pastel is a different animal and pastels tend to be flat.
A third way of adding sparkle is to use glazes. This involves painting the area white first. Then painting the undercoat so the white beneath it will reflect light through it. Finally, painting on the dark glaze. This adds interest.
Glass varnish itself intensifies the colours.
Any comments would be appreciated.
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