Halloween Night

Complementary colors look very pleasing to human eye. That's why it is good to check out the color wheel before coloring the painting. This one was made with my favorite pair: blue and orange. For blue I used French ultramarine only, for orange part I used regular orange plus yellow ocher, burned umber and burned sienna. Black color was achieved by mixing burned umber and French ultramarine. To preserve white of the paper I masked the candle flame and nearby highlights.
First wash was done in wet in wet technique because it let me create soft edges between colors. The devil like shadow behind the mouse was created this way. With the next steps I gradually went darker and darker with details. The outside of the picture was painted with bold brush strokes softened occasionally with clear water. People naturally look for the light that's why in this composition I created tunnel like filling with the brightest element - the fire in the middle.
On my sketch below you can see that the mouse have different look. My daughter said that the mouse needs to be cute and she redesigned the head for me. My daughter is a cute expert so I decided to trust her. I love you Justyna :)