Complementary Colors

Afternoon  in the Cafe
by Jane McElvany Coonce

This is a watercolor painting I did that was done with 2 colors, Quinacridone Gold and Mineral Violet.
Quinacridone Gold is an yellow color and Mineral Violet is purple which happen to be two colors that are opposite on the color wheel,  and therefore, complementary colors.  Something exciting happens when an artist uses complementary colors next to each other.  It has a different look and can wake up a sleepy viewer.  I was amazed how many variations of color I got with just those two colors.  It was a fun experiment and perhaps I'll try it again sometime with different complementary colors.