Deep Purple - Or Is It?

"Starfall on the Intracoastal"by Krys Pettit

I have found there are certain color combinations I work with more than others.  I like the bright, warm colors on my palette but I often choose cool and calming colors andI mix blues and reds to get a variety of purples.

"Dream Time" by Krys Pettit

I wondered if purple was a valid color and Wikipedia sort of answered my question:

"Purple, unlike violet, is not one of the colors of the visible spectrum. It was not one of the colors of the rainbow identified by Isaac Newton, and it does not have its own wavelength of light. For this reason, it is called a non-spectral color."  

"Evening's Window" by Krys Pettit

Which got me to thinking -- do I paint with violet more than purple?  When you are instinctively mixing colors using different sources you kind of don't label the final product.  What you do is hope you can get that color yet again and match what you have painted.  All the colors I use is custom mixed by me at the moment I paint instead of using tube colors so there is no formula to follow.

"Moonlit Window - Bulow Plantation" by Krys Pettit

If I am indeed using violet instead of purple, it would be close to red on the color spectrum, while purple is closer to blue.  Just to make things more complicated I tend to mix the two.  It all sounds too technical for my artistic brain.

"Paris Window" by Krys Pettit

 I think I will just mix those colors, and see where they land.  Frankly it would be a whole lot less fun if I really knew what the outcome would be.  Which is why I love being and artist.

"Canyon Storm" by Krys Pettit

For an idea of how the masters used purple, check out this link on Google Culture to one of the great waterlily paintings by Claude Monet.  Who knew how to do purple in so many ways.

"Waterlilies" by Claude Monet