Design With Dots

Paint a portrait, landscape, or still life. But instead  of mixing the colors on your palette, use optical color mixing. Place tiny dots side by side to develop the shapes and forms in your composition.

• Start with primary colors red, yellow, and blue plus black and white on your palette.

• Use only black and white to adjust the tint or shade of  the colors you’re working with.

• To create shadows and highlights, add complementary colors.

• Experiment by juxtaposing unexpected colors.

• Use color to create, emphasize, or set the mood.

Before you begin, check out examples by the students at The Girls’ School of Austin in Austin, Texas in the slideshow above!

Prepared by: Nancy Hoover, The Girls’ School of Austin, Austin, Texas