A Painting a Day - Day 10

This was my painting from Wednesday. Sorry I didn't get to post it that day. It's been a bit of a crazy week around here. I was playing with Complementary colors - purples/yellows, blues/oranges. Thinking about Wolf Kahn again and his beautiful colors. 

For those of you who don't know this, Complementary colors sit opposite each other on the color wheel. If you mix them together you will get a grey. When they sit next to each other in a painting, they have the effect of making each other seem more vibrant.

Here's something fun to try: stare at my painting for about thirty seconds, then look away at a white wall or piece of paper (or just try closing your eyes for a few seconds). If you've never done this, it's fun because what's called an "afterimage" will appear but the colors will be switched around - what was purple will be yellow and vice versa. It has to do with visual perception and something called "fatigue of the visual system," but I think it's just kind of cool!