Determining color hue and palette with Gimp
I used Gimp to understand and set the initial color palette for “Drummer and Graffiti”. The painting was loosely based on this photo. 
As shown in the triangular color plot from Gimp, the bricks are toward the red end of the orange range (noted by the circle on the outer perimeter). The top edge of the triangle would indicate all black mixed with the red/orange. The circle inside the triangle just off the top edge indicates that the color of the bricks will be obtained by adding dark gray (or mostly black with some white) to the red/orange. This knowledge allowed me to quickly mix colors I liked.
But before 
I painted the bricks I painted the mortar layer. How much yellow and how desaturated should the mortar be? The color plot from Gimp shows that the color or hue is nearly the same for the mortar as the brick, both are orange. The circle on the outer diameter of the plot shows the base color has just slightly more yellow than the bricks. However, it is desaturated entirely with white. To mix this color I started with yellow and added just a little orange and mixed with white until it looked right.
The last 
color that I wanted to get right to capture the warmth of the scene was the back wall color. It had a warm glow that I thought might have more yellow in it than the mortar and bricks. Surprisingly, it was nearly the same hue! The warmth of the wall was the result of a mix of yellow and orange. As a matter of my style, I tend to desaturate a bit to add warmth. The color study of the photo is a guide, not a rule.
The remarkable lesson from this photo analysis was that one color (one hue to be more precise) could be used for all of the walls in the painting. A red orange with dark gray added for bricks, white added for mortar, and very little added for the back wall creates all the different colors. A large variety of colors can be created from one hue or slight variations of that hue.
To finish the painting, two elements were added that I wanted to have some contrast with the background. To begin mixing colors for the drums and the lettering I looked one third of the way from the dominant red/orange (a choice of turquoise or blue/violet). Other options were colors close to the dominant (red or yellow) or a compliment (blue/turquoise). I use the color chart as a guide for colors to consider and often find that for contrast I like colors near a third of the way from the dominant color. If find the triangle plots to be a very intuitive way to present all the desaturated variations of the color hue, allowing me to ensure the colors work in harmony with each other and letting me quickly and intuitively mix the color I want.
Drummer and Graffiti - Brian Kelly, 2009 acrylic on canvas board, 9″ x 12″
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