The Scariest Color

Of all the colors on my palette, red is the one that scares me the most. It is very aggressive and cannot be ignored. Even a small spot of red will draw the eye.

But red is a prominant color in Chinese ornamental architecture. In this scene of Chinatown, it appeared in most of the buildings. I decided to keep the entire painting in a warm color scheme, so I used orange in the underpainting, and since blue is its complement, threw in a bit of that as well.

The busy street scene needed lots of smaller shapes near the center to emphasize the activity. The banners and figures supply movement.

The purplish shadows share the red hue which is therefore compatible with the local color.

Don't shy away from colors that you normally avoid. Swing away with a loaded brush and see what happens!