August 2012 Challenge Color Palette

This month’s challenge artwork is amazing to me, because even though it’s over a hundred years old, Winslow Homer’s Fishing Boats, Key West feels like it could have been painted yesterday; the subject matter seems both timeless and modern at the same time.

I’m also struck that with only a few colors an entire mood is struck; it’s done deliberately here, and it’s so powerful. It feels fitting for an August color palette, or a transitional seasonal palette, too. An ocean scene to bring up summer (at least to me, I think of the ocean as a “summer” theme), but with autumnal colors, perfect as we slide towards the fall.

So, as you look to draw color inspiration for this month’s challenge, look for beads in shades of gray greens, deep teals, warm charcoal grays, pale blues, and rich orange browns. A pale blue, a deep teal, a gray (either straightforward gray, a gray green, or a gray blue) and a warm brown, and you’re set.

What colors do you see?