Sun, Jan 29, 2023
I want to share with you my experience with using coloured accent walls to set off a piece of artwork.
Most homes are painted in neutral off-white or pale beige like in the picture below. I want to show you what happens when you paint the wall behind the painting (or the whole room) in a different colour, in order to make the room part of the artwork.
Note, these mock-ups were made using #InsituArtroom app https://insituartroom.com/ Same Colour First, let's determine which colour is the predominant colour in the painting.
In this painting the predominant colour is #orange. See what happens when we place the painting on a wall that is the same colour as the predominant colour in the painting (orange.) You can see that the painting almost disappears into the wall. The opposite colour to orange (the dark blue in the trees) is the only part of the painting that really stands out against this wall colour.
[See #picture below.]
Darker Colour Now, just to see what happens - here is a #darker version of the orange colour above. Since the #wall colour is darker than the predominant colour, the painting has some "pop" to it, especially in the leaves. Your eye is still drawn to the colours in the treest.
[See picture below.]
#Analogous Colour Now, let's choose a color from the interior of the painting (a vermilian red from the #acer #trees) that is analogous to orange. You can see immediately that the forest colours stand out more! You can see clearly the variety and subtle hues of orange. Since #vermillion and orange are near each other on the color wheel (analogous colours), the result is a soothing contrast.
[See picture below.]
Complementary Colour For the final experiment, I have chosen the colour that is exactly opposite to orange on the colour wheel (blue and orange are #complementary colours.) The orange in the forest is standing out even more than in the reddish room above. There is also a balance between the orange colours in the forest and the wall colour. This #complementary colour combination is the most exciting and draws your attention right to the painting.
[See picture below.]
#Sum up In conclusion, the first step in deciding which wall colour to use is to determine the predominant colour in the painting. Next, decide if you want the painting to blend into the wall colour, or if you want a soothing contrast, or if you want an exciting contrast. For the three versions, choose colours that are the same as the predominant colour, or #analogous (adjacent on the colour wheel), or #complementary (opposite on the #colour wheel.) Take a look at the colour wheel below. Darker colours will make the artwork pop more, and lighter colours create less of an #effect. Try to use a wall paint colour that exists in the painting (preferably a colour that is near the center of the #painting, not around the edges.) But the best way to see how your painting will look is to use #Photoshop or other paint tools to experiment with different colours before you pick up a brush.
Emil