Red: The Great Moderator (or, "The Importance of Harmony")

Winter Memories, 24"x18" Oil on panel

It has been said that "red" is the color that is most effective at moderating the other colors in a painting. In other words, red can essentially be added to any (and all) other colors in varying degrees in order to create harmony. Harmony is the sense that everything in a picture "belongs there", that it appears to be part of a larger whole--that it doesn't feel foreign to the area.

Although someone may not notice this fact right away (and that was certainly the intent), there is a small amount of red throughout the green foliage of the trees in the background of the above painting, as well as in the snow and other places. The bright red of the girl's jacket (and the ribbons on the trees) is balanced by the amount of red included in the other parts of the painting. The green foliage still appears green, and the snow still appears cold and generally blue, but nothing stands out as not belonging there because everything has a bit of that red in it.

Sometimes people take for granted that the reason a given location in nature is harmonious is because the same type--or color--of light is falling upon everything in the area, and that things are usually similar in color. Even in a location that includes more than one light source (a building interior with a window to the outdoors, for example), the light mixes and bounces around until everything has a bit of everything else reflected in it to some extent. The only reason a painting might not appear harmonious is when we forget that everything is affected by everything else, both in nature and in paintings, and thereby forget to include the colors of the surrounding objects in the subject we're painting.

I always enjoy trying to see the natural harmony in any subject I paint. When you really look hard, you'll find yourself seeing colors you didn't see at first. It's quite fun to find ways to harmonize a painting.

-Trent