When we examine color strategies in the most successful paintings—those with unified color and landscape-like harmonies—we usually find that all the colors fall into a limited number of color families. One family is often dominant. Painters sometimes refer to this as the color “key” or color “chord” of the painting. There may be a single chord (as in a monochromatic painting), but more commonly, there is a dominant chord and a few minor chords. These are the color groups.

The idea behind color grouping is this: a painting made with fewer groups has a better chance of producing unified harmonies than one made with a large number of divergent colors and groups.

Grouping imposes no limits on the many individual colors there may be in a painting, but it does ask that those colors fall into a small number of color groups.

Grouping doesn’t inhibit coloristic expression. Rather, it allows us to focus on that expression and allows it to better simulate the way color behaves in the natural world. Once you begin looking at landscape paintings through the lens of color grouping, you will see that color groups are used all the time. In fact, every painting in this book uses color grouping.

COLOR GROUPING BY NATURE

Color grouping may sound like a specialized theory or practice, but it is simply a way of taking what occurs naturally in the landscape and carrying it into our paintings. The natural world routinely groups its colors. Certain types of scenes, such as gardens or urban landscapes, may be an exception. They can present a variety of colors from every part of the spectrum. In such cases, a painter must be prepared to impose color groups by organizing all the colors into fewer groups.

When a subject is blurred, small differences of color melt into their component groups, leaving only the average of all the colors. Blurring like this is similar to the squinting we do when reading values and looking for simplified masses, except here, we are trying to reduce all the colors to their component groups.

As we develop a painting, we will naturally fine-tune color relationships, but the better idea we have of our color direction at the start, the better chance we have of hitting our color target. Whether painting outdoors or in the studio, there’s no better way to pretest our color plan than with a simple color study. Which colors and mixtures form the strategy and the color groups?

Color studies are practical and fun. They are also a low- pressure exercise. You are less likely to be invested in a quick “disposable” study than you would be with a larger “precious” painting. The color study is a safe avenue to explore (and get lost) without a large commitment of time or attachment to the outcome. Of course, color studies sometimes come out very well and can stand as small gems in their own right.

EXPLORING YOUR OPTIONS: EXPANDING YOUR RANGE

We are so used to trying to paint the colors we see (especially when referencing photos) that it’s easy to become restricted in our ability to be experimental with color. By doing a series of studies like those below, you’ll discover more color options than you ever thought possible. Don’t tell yourself that you shouldn’t try certain color combinations. Try each of the hue interactions. Explore neutral palettes. What colors will turn day into night? If you run out of ideas, find a color strategy in another’s painting and apply it to your own study. (Also see the exercise “One Subject, Different Strategies”.)

Are there naturally occurring color groups in the subject?

With few exceptions, the natural world routinely groups its colors. Can you identify the groups in the scene? What are the colors of each group?

How many color groups are there in the subject?

The fewer groups there are, the greater the chance that the strategy will convey landscape-like and unified harmonies.

How do the color groups in the painting relate?

How the color groups relate is an expression of the color strategy in its most basic form. Are there hue interactions at play? Are the groups similar in hue or do they contrast? How strong are the value differences? How saturated are the colors? Does the arrangement of colors form the impression you are after?

Are the color groups used in differing proportions?

A color strategy works best when the color groups are not used in equal proportion. There is often a dominant group and a few smaller groups. Which group is dominant, and which ones play a lesser role?

Are you distinguishing between individual colors and groups?

A painting can have dozens or even hundreds of individual colors. This is never discouraged. However, you should always ask, How can the many colors be organized into a small number of groups?

Have you done a color study or swatch test to evaluate the groups?

A color study is a reliable way to test the efficacy of your color groups and, in turn, the color strategy. It’s also a way to determine which pigment colors and mixtures will form the groups.

OVERVIEW: There’s no better way to get a firm grasp of color groups than to analyze them in the works of others. In this exercise, you will create a set of color swatches that represent the color groups in an existing painting. There is more to this exercise than simply matching colors. A painting may consist of dozens or even hundreds of individual colors. Identifying a color group often means finding the average of several related colors.

STEP 1: SELECT A PAINTING WITH GOOD COLOR GROUPING

You can find many good examples of color grouping throughout this book. In this painting, I see three major groups. The dominant group is formed by the autumn yellows and golds in the trees. A smaller but important group is the violet mountain, which complements the yellow. The third group is a set of blue-grays, found in the sky and in the shadows at the very bottom of the painting. There are certainly more than three colors in the painting, but they all fit into one of these three groups.

STEP 2: SELECT COLORS AND CREATE GROUPS

The next step is to select the colors that will best form the color groups found in the painting. Selecting colors according to how they fit the strategy is called targeting and is discussed fully in the next chapter. With just four pigments (plus white), I have a limited palette, which will help keep color mixtures more cohesive.

LEMON YELLOW + YELLOW OCHRE: The yellows in this painting range from full saturation (in the sunlit areas) to neutral (in the shadows), so I select two yellows that reflect this. They are also very close to the colors seen in the painting.

ALIZARIN is a magenta-like red that, when mixed with ULTRAMARINE, will create the violet in the mountain. It is also used for the red accents in the mountain and in the shadows of the trees.

ULTRAMARINE, when mixed with red and yellow in the right proportions, will create the blue-gray color in the sky. ULTRAMARINE is a much better fit for the color harmony in the painting than a warm blue like PHTHALO, CERULEAN, or MANGANESE.

OBSERVE: There are more individual colors in this painting than color groups. Although you are matching colors to some degree, a single color group is often formed by the average of several related colors. On this palette, there are three yellow mixes that vary in temperature, saturation, and value, but they all form one yellow-gold group.

STEP 3: CREATE YOUR SWATCHES

Once your groups are mixed, begin building the swatch set. Place each color down on your surface with a palette knife. (A quality painting surface is not necessary; paper from your sketchbook is adequate.) If a color doesn’t appear correct when you place it alongside another color, adjust the mixture on the palette and reapply the swatch. (This is why you use the palette knife; it allows you to easily reapply colors.) You may indicate small accent colors—as I did here with the light orange accent in the violet and the green accent in the golds—but the main color groups are the priority.

STEP 4: FINAL COLOR SWATCH

The final swatch set should have the same color “flavor” as the painting and be unmistakably recognizable as belonging to that painting.