Broken Glass

Broken Glass

10" x 7 1/4 '', oil on linen, 2016

This composition is a simple juxtaposition between the woman and the broken wine glass. I limited the color palette to cool blues that circle the warm notes of the woman's face, hand, and hair.

Two basic harmonies in color theory are in play here: the analogous and the complementary. The analogous is a harmony of closely related hues, such as the varied blues in this painting; the complementary is a harmony of two hues that are opposite each other on the traditional artist's color wheel,* in this case the blues and the gold hair. Analogous harmonies tend to produce more radiant and subtle effects. Complementary harmonies would be more jazzy and energetic. Each has its own beauty.

Basic Color Wheel
Complementary colors: yellow/purple, orange/blue, red/green

In the following example, the red in the center of each panel is exactly the same red, but the surrounding colors create dramatically different effects. 

        analogous                                                   complementary    
         (radiant. subtle)                                            (jazzy, energetic)       

In contrast to Broken Glass, where the analogous harmony is predominant, my 2012 painting Hat Party is full of complementary harmonies, adding their energy to the narrative.

Hat Party
7" x 8", oil on linen, 2012
Private Collection, New York

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* Isaac Newton is generally credited with the invention of the color wheel in 1706, when he arranged the colors created by a prism - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet - into a circle.

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