GUALALA WORKSHOP DAY 1 DEMO & SLIDE SHOW

I have a small but enthusiastic group here in beautiful Gualala, California.  The Advanced Watercolor Portrait workshop is at the Gualala Art Center.  I will take some photos of the grounds and building and post later in the week.  It is a stunning venue.  Day one deals with the opportunity to explore various color ideas.  I have everyone work on a half sheet divided into 5 x 7 segments.  As you can see by the slide show, everyone really had fun with this concept.  I wish my photography was as good as their efforts!  I must do a better job of photographing tomorrow.

At the end of the day, my husband and I sipped wine, sitting in comfy chairs outside watching the sun setting into the Pacific Ocean.  A perfect ending to a wonderful day.

DAY 4 VARIATIONS: COLOR

Here is a painting I did as a demo. One of the students put too much red gesso on his paper so I transfered the extra and covered an failed painting that had lots of texture already on it. I finished the painting with oil pastels. Texture to the max!

Day 4 is color and we were working with Faber Birren's 7 forms of color. Lots to wrap your mind around. Everyone jumped in and gave it a try. Light bulbs started to go on and some interesting paintings were developed. The slide show follows.

LAST OF THE COLOR STUDIES (FOR NOW!)

Here is the last of the quartet of color studies. This one is ANALOGOUS COLORS (3 or 4 colors next to each other on the color wheel) As a random pick, I got Red Orange/Orange/Yellow Orange. I actually mixed the RO and YO together to get the orange as I didn't have one in the Hydrus line. My 3 forms of color trio was TINT/TONE/BLACK. I tried to stick to this but in the end I couldn't stand the total blackness of the side of the face so created a SHADE by brushing Red-Orange on top. I really like the result. I wound up "cheating" on my value plan, as well, as I was painting. In truth, this is the way to work. It pays to have a plan when you start but an artist needs to respond to what is happening on the page and make adjustments which may deviate from the plan to make the best painting possible. When I was a very inexperienced painter, many years ago, I remember being baffled by the expression "let the painting talk to you". It's exciting when you get to the stage that you not only understand this expression but have an engaging "conversation" with your painting.

THREE DOWN, ONE TO GO!

I redid the painting from the last post on traditional watercolor paper and I like it much better. I am actually using white and black pigment from the Dr. Martin's Hydrus liquid colors and I am pleased with the result. With GREY/TONE/SHADE, the tone parts look bright as long as I don't lower their intensity too much. I am a big believer in doing a painting a second or even third time until I get it right. Trying to rework watercolor just creates more problems than it fixes for me. I prefer a total do-over.

The second painting was my Split Compliment of Red/Blue Green and Yellow Green using the 3 forms of WHITE/HUE/TONE. I fudged a little with the hues because I wanted to try the Daniel Smith Watercolor Stix on this new paper I have. The colors I used were Quin Coral for the Red, Sap Green for the yellow green and Thalo Green, blue shade for the Blue Green. That's close enough. I actually like this one. It's pretty bizarre but fun. A little like a Baboon's bottom! The watercolor stixs actually worked much better on this paper than the tube paints I tried earlier. That means I shall take this paper with me for travel sketches in color. The stixs are good items for travel. I just touched a wet brush to them and painted directly on the paper.

The third painting used another Split Compliment combination of Yellow Orange with Blue and Violet. Faber Birren thinks that Split Compliments work best when there are two Tertiary colors and only one primary or secondary color. This one has only one Tertiary (yellow orange) but I am pleased with the results. The 3 color forms were TINT/TONE/SHADE.

I didn't get the last of the four paintings done today but it is nice to have something planned for the next day. It makes getting started so much easier. Tomorrow's painting will be with analogous colors. That should have a totally new look for Monsieur.

MORE COLOR SURPRISES!

I received a nice e-mail from Peggy Stermer-Cox and thought I would share it. She posed the following question:
"I've been thinking about asking you a question. How do you maintain your drawing skills? Would that be an entry you'd care to post? It seems to me your drawing skills are strong and an essential part of your successful work. Again, thanks! Peggy"
The answer is "practice, practice, practice". I'm sure we all have noticed how we get rusty when we don't use any skill we have acquired. I do love to draw, so it is easy to keep it up because it is pleasurable. It is the things we need to do but don't enjoy doing that are hard to maintain.

Yesterday I took an ART HOLIDAY with my good friend Andrea and we took the subway into San Francisco, had lunch and then went to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Okay, so we detoured a little into a few shops along the way. It was Free Tuesday at the Museum! I didn't even know they had "free Tuesday" but a welcome surprise. The Georgia O'Keefe/Ansel Adams special exhibit was extra but that was why we came. We couldn't get into that part of the museum until 3 PM so we spent some time in the gift shop....a most dangerous place for me....and then we went up to the top to see the new sculpture garden. The top floor had some very unusual pieces. One was what appeared to be two photographs cut into strips and then plaited together like an Ikat weaving. I loved the idea, did a fast sketch with notes and took some photos. I am definitely going to do a piece in this manner put with watercolor paintings or drawings, not photographs.

The Georgia O'Keefe exhibit turned out to be so much more interesting to me since I have been reading and studying about color. I was able to analyze how she used color and break it down into the Faber Birren concepts. Her use of intensity, gradation, shape, et al was so exciting to discover with new eyes on my part. Now I have to get a book out of the library and really study at length. No photographs were allowed in this exhibit. In fact, no pens! I was sketching and the guard handed me a pencil. It's printed for all the world to read on the back of the ticket that no pens are allowed. Don't know how I missed that.

I am in the final stages of my color work. For fun and surprises I put all the variables on slips of paper and randomly pull them out and create a painting with those elements. I created 4 different value plans for this particular drawing. Then I pulled a slip with one of the Faber Birren variations. I added a slip from color variations. I did this 4 times and then matched each set to one of the value patterns. The one above was GREY/TONE/SHADE using Deep Rose Red, Gamboge and Viridian. The color choice was by writing all my paint tubes on separate slips of paper and pulling out 3 of them. I lucked out as this set wasn't too weird. I painted this on a new paper that I coated with gesso and textured slightly. One of the texturing elements created pin prick dots that look like measles on this guy. I think I will do this one over on regular watercolor paper.

The next painting is going to be a huge challenge to pull off because I have to work with the Split Compliment Red/Yellow Green and Blue Green. Sometimes you get very ugly paintings but sometimes you get some amazing results that would not have happened any other way. What you always get is a fun challenge.

TINT AND TONE EQUAL IRIDESCENCE

I have been re-reading Faber Birren's book from cover to cover in order to fully comprehend his ideas. He has a very formal way of expressing himself and often it is difficult to totally process the concepts. Putting words to visual expression is very tricky I am finding out. It turns out that Birren's contribution to color as it applies to painting was mostly in the area of figuring out how to express luminosity, iridescence and luster along with chromatic light effects and mist, etc. Much of this is strange to apply to a portrait but the attempt creates some very unusual results. I don't think you can really get an iridescent face but I decided to do something with the formula in today's painting. The general idea is to have the majority of the painting in the mid value range fairly neutral with TONES and then have small touches of TINTS. Instead of having the TINTS as part of the features, I decided to super-impose these squares on top of the image just for the fun of it. By masking off the areas for tints, I was able to paint more easily. I created the TONES by mixing complements. I have my palette arranged according to Stephen Quiller's recommendations for perfect compliments. It makes life so easy when it is established this way. All of his palette is pure hues so it works very smoothly with Faber Birren's 7 forms of color triangle. This color effect is all about INTENSITY of color and controlling the VALUE range. INTENSITY is the degree of purity of hue versus neutralizing or dulling it down. The confusion of intensity comes when you lighten the hue but don't dull it. Theoretically it maintains it full intensity but not full SATURATION which has to do with the pigment load, not the purity. I understand the concept. I just think there could be a better term to describe the situation. I like PURITY myself but the term INTENSITY is here to stay.

Art has it's own specific language and we have to be consistent in order to communicate these visual concepts. Many years ago when I was a freshman at Washington University in St. Louis in one of my first classes, the professor gave a talk. I remember thinking it sounded like English but I didn't understand a thing he said! I hadn't learned "art speak" yet. I'm still working on it!

THE CHALLENGE

It seems like there are challenges everywhere I turn. First of all, the internet signal to my computer keeps cutting out. Just when I want to post to the blog, no connection! Irritating to say the least.

The second challenge is really comprehending all the color ideas in Faber Birren's book, "Creative Color". My copy dates back to 1961. I think it may be out of print. It was the text for the college class I took in color. I am rereading it and trying some of the exercises. Above is the latest "Frenchman" painting trying to get LUSTER effect. This is the use of HUE, SHADE, BLACK combination of color forms. It turns out that DOMINANCE is critical for the effect. A small amount of pure hue surrounded by dark shades or black give the optical illusion of luster. Luster is generally "seen" in metal or fabric, not skin. In a portrait the effect isn't exactly lustrious but a beautiful glow. Rembrandt did it best! I think this version from the "Vern" series worked better. At the time I was translating a beautiful landscape painting by Wolf Kahn into a color scheme for a portrait. Now I realize that it followed the HUE, SHADE, BLACK formula which produced this beautiful glowing light. My latest version isn't as dramatic and has a much warmer set of colors but I think it works. I did lose the "intensity" of the yellow when I glazed the painting with red. A little watercolor crayon should bring it back.

The next painting will be pure hue surrounded by gray or neutral tones to capture "luminosity". I have attempted this before with limited success.

FABER BIRREN'S COLOR CONCEPT

In response to Rhonda Carpenter's request for more information on my last post, I will describe what I am trying to accomplish.

Faber Birren devoted his life to the study of color. Perhaps the most complicated of all the elements of design. In his book "Creative Color", he devised this schematic shown above where you have HUE (PURE COLOR) WHITE & BLACK in an equilateral triangle. If you combine HUE with WHITE you create a color called a TINT. If you combine HUE with BLACK you create a color called a SHADE. Lastly, if you combine WHITE with BLACK you get GRAY. He places each of these between the HUE, WHITE AND BLACK. In the center is what is called a TONE. A TONE is created when you mix GRAY (BLACK & WHITE) with a HUE or when you neutralize a HUE by adding it's compliment. By adding a compliment you are in effect combining all three primary colors in some ratio. Even a small addition of the 3rd primary creates a dulled color. So, you can see that this "triangle" has lines connecting each to the other where there is some common element. The idea that he had was to draw a straight line through three connecting "words" and create a painting using only these aspects of color. Why? You would have a natural harmony because each element has a relationship with one of the others. This is also a way to establish mood.

So, within this concept, a HUE must be a pure color. Many tubes of paint are mixtures and already TINTS, SHADES OR TONES. Magenta was one of those colors that was already altered. It would not work with the HUE/TINT/WHITE painting, as I found out. I should have known in advance but it isn't always easy to see the subtle alteration of a color. Watercolor makes this idea more difficult because the TINT is created by adding water instead of white pigment. At what point does HUE become TINT? I don't really know but will use my best judgement. Another factor making watercolor so challenging for this project is the transparent nature of watercolor. With color glazing I am getting tones when I don't want them. An opaque paint such as acrylic would be much easier to create the effects. I struggle on! Above is my watercolor version of WHITE/TONE/SHADE.

Color can be parsed very mathematically but I am not interested in "exact". I am satisfied with "approximate". I am intriguied by the concept and the visual result of following these color design formulas. If I get a general approximation of the effect by following the guidelines, I am not going to stress over a minor infraction.

Just to complicate the matter further, consider the aspect of DOMINANCE. If there are three items to work with, they could be used equally or one could dominate and the other two could be very minor or one could dominate, one could subordinate and the third could be very minor....think "PAPA, MAMA, BABY" or two could be equal and the third could be minor. When you switch the players around into the different positions you see why one lifetime isn't enough to grasp it all!

I have set the challenge for myself to paint the same image using a different combination of HUE, TINT, WHITE, GRAY, BLACK, SHADE & TONE and see what it looks like. The more I understand the more I have a powerful tool to express my ideas.
I am not going to try for all the variations of dominance within each grouping.

Rhonda,is your head spinning yet ? Aren't you sorry you asked!

SECOND SLIDE SHOW SAN DIEGO VARIATIONS WORKSHOP

I tried to create a slide show for today's paintings but the slide website didn't want to upload the photos. I got tired of trying so I am just posting them straight on the blog. Slide shows are so much more fun. I will try to create an entire slide show of the whole weeks work later. Just click on any of the images to see them enlarged and with more detail.

We worked on color combinations today. It turned out to be more challenging than anticipated. Tomorrow is the final element we will be working with....Texture (my personal favorite). It should be a wild and crazy time. A great finale! Stay tuned.

HIGH KEY PALETTE PAINTING

I was determined to paint an acceptable (to me) painting using this palette from Nina Leland's new color book. I created each palette by using water bottle caps and loading each cap with the appropriate color, writing the color name on the bottom and putting them in a "gift card tin" I got a Michael's for $1. The tins come in different patterns, so I can distinguish one palette from the other. They hold all but one color from the palette. I should get an extra tin to put in all the lone colors from the different palettes.

Anyway, the first attempt to use this set of colors resulted in an ugly mess. I was trying to force the colors to go against their innate nature. This palette has no ability to create dramatic darks, and most of the colors are weak pigments, have a "waxy" feel and are semi opaque and granular. It's not called a "high key" palette for nothin!

I was able to keep the color mixtures from getting too dull and I didn't try to go dark. I was able to darken the Cobalt Blue a little. I used 5 of the colors in the palette: Cobalt Blue, Manganese Blue Hue, Cobalt Violet, Aureolin Yellow and Rose Madder. I'm beginning to think 5 colors is a good number to work with in any painting. It creates a natural harmony but I think these colors are not for me. A little too "sweet".

I think I will try a painting with the other pigments in this palette that were left out this time and see what I get.

I did create a number of drawings and value studies of this image. I was surprised how quickly I was able to simplify the subject and stylize it. It happened almost immediately! Wow, this practice, practice, practice idea has something going for it.

THE BEST LAYED PLANS...

Well, I learned a lot...enjoyed my painting time...and produced a painting that is pretty darn ugly! I did follow my plan. I chose the "film noir" value plan and came pretty close! I am pleased about that. I made the painting black and white in photoshop to compare my results with my sketch. I am working with the high key palette in Nina Leland's color book to see what I could do with those colors. This is a dark as I could get with many layers of color. I decided to have a warm dark on the face and a cool dark for the background. Really don't like the warm dark very much. The second image shows the painting pretty much done. I thought the colors needed to relate more, so I put a quin gold glaze over it as a unifying force. That color wasn't in the palette. Almost all of the colors in this palette are semi opaque and granulating. They are beautiful by themselves but don't lend very much to layering or glazing. The palette that I normally use has little or no semi opaque. I like very transparent and strong colors that can create rich darks. I was trying to get the feel of a poured painting without actually masking off and pouring. The last image is the final result. Keep in mind that this isn't exactly how it actually looks but close enough to get the idea.

I am going to try again using a value pattern with just a little dark, mostly light and some mid value shapes. Also, I am going to keep from neutralizing the color too much. You can read about color until the cows come home but the only way to truly learn is by doing.

I had to wait until each layer dried before I could continue, so I started reading an interesting book. I spent the afternoon painting then reading, then painting, .... The book is called "Iconoclast" by Dr. Gregory Berns. A neuroscientist reveals how to think differently. Turns out innovator's brains fire differently and one can learn how to do this. There is so much interesting research on how the brain works. I may figure mine out yet!

I hope to have the internet thing fixed today. In the meantime, I am working against time again to get this posted. I sat at the gallery yesterday so had a lovely quiet time painting. Here is my realistic version of the Frenchman on a textured background using a limited palette of Quin Gold, Burnt Sienna, Brown Madder, Payne's Gray and Neutral Tint. I'm not sure about the bubble wrap on the nose! Otherwise I like the textures with the traditional...makes it a little more interesting. I need to be more careful about where I put what textures in the future. I want to do one more stylized version of this guy. I had an interesting idea for presentation using four of them in one frame. Maybe I'll make him more "green". Green is in these days.

FRENCHMAN WITH SHAPE, COLOR AND TEXTURE AGAIN!

I am having difficulties with technology today. My internet connection comes and goes and it is my computer that is the problem. My "experts" can't figure it out. I am also having trouble adjusting my digital image to reflect the proper color and value. This is as close as I can get. Not quite right, but you get the idea. I tried some different stamps and texturizing ideas, then painted using the same palette as yesterday but I didn't use the yellows and Burnt Sienna. The only red was Brown Madder and the "yellow" was an olive yellow green. It actually is Seniellier 's (spelling is wrong but I am too lazy to get up and look at the paint tube) Quin Gold. It is very different from any other brand and is very greenish. Works perfectly for this palette. I used Neutral Tint, Payne's Gray, Indigo and Indanthrone Blue as my other colors. I wanted a dominance of cool colors. The value pattern was my attempt to follow the Rembrandt scheme as described by Robert Burridge in his last two newsletters. I'm not sure I achieved it but the results are satisfying. That really is the point, anyway. It doesn't matter if you "get the right answer". It isn't math. By having an idea to work from it gives you a starting point and then the painting takes on a life of it's own and you work to resolve whatever challenges show up. If the best solution doesn't match the original concept, who cares?

Tomorrow is the 80/20 warm dominant painting with this drawing. Then I am going to see how a more realistic rendering looks over all this texture.

FRENCHMAN WITH SHAPE, COLOR AND TEXTURE!

Today I sat at the Gallery. I was expecting to be alone so I was surprised to find the committee for CWA Annual Exhibit working in the kitchen, preparing the letters of acceptance and rejection to be sent out. I was treated to a slide show of the accepted entries which was playing on a laptop. I hope they make a cd available for purchase of these paintings.

Knowing I would have all afternoon to paint, last night I prepared a half sheet of watercolor paper with different textures in the heavy Utrech gesso. I had been experimenting with other acrylic mediums and was surprised that after they dried, if they were rewetted, some of them started to soften and dissolve. Gesso seems to stay hard once it dries. I used different stamps and stencils from my ever-growing supply. Once at the Gallery, I drew this stylized version of the Frenchman onto the paper and worked with my neutralized palette from Nita Leland's book. I am growing extremely fond of this combination of colors. I like this painting and had a very enjoyable afternoon painting bigger than a 5 x 7 inch mini! I want to try this again focusing on a stronger dominance of cool vs warm tones. I think they are too even on this one with no dominance of temperature. I may do two more...one with 80/20 cool vs warm and the other 80/20 with warm vs cool.

It was so easy to paint with the drawing decided, the color palette decided, the texture done. I had fewer things to concentrate on so less stress, yet there were still plenty of decisions to make to keep it interesting and surprises to experience. If everything was totally worked out in advance then the joy of discovery would have been gone. Today was the perfect balance!

ONE DOWN AND ONE MORE TO GO!

This is almost the last triad I will be doing. One more tomorrow and then on to split primarys. There are two versions of that. I am following Nita Leland's book and using her combinations. The truth is that there are limitless combinations of red, yellow and blue. So far none of these combinations I have tried work for all mixes. If the greens and purples look great, the orange range doesn't and if the orange looks good, the greens are dull. The split primary concept solves these color problems but I am getting ahead of myself.

This is the combination of a cool Yellow, Quin Magenta and Thalo Blue. Hansa Yellow was called for but I didn't have it, so I started to research. I do have Cad Yellow Lemon but I don't like working with Cad colors because I prefer a transparent color. Aureolin was the closest I came, so I used it. After all my research, I think Hansa Yellow Light is my prefered pigment for a lemon yellow color. Dull oranges with this combo because of the Magenta but the violets and greens are gorgeous I rather like this little man.

I spent a few hours roaming around Michael's craft store seeing what ideas I could get. I had it in my head that they had empty bottles with dauber tops.. I could swear I saw them when I was in Thousand Oaks. That is the biggest Michaels I have ever seen and they have lots more "stuff". Anyway, the closest I could find was a bottle filled with stamp ink remover. I will empty the bottle and fill it with a mid value liquid watercolor for fast sketching. I thought I could quickly lay in the mass and then go back with line. We'll see how that idea works out. If anybody knows where I can find empty bottles with this kind of top, let me know.

I bought a few $.99 magnetic picture frames for small 4 x 6 paintings I plan to give as little gifts for the holidays. They had ugly patterns on the frames so I covered them with thick gesso and stamped into them. I will paint them tomorrow. The frame is more trouble than the picture to go in it!

TWO MORE FRENCHMAN COLOR STUDIES

First, a disclaimer regarding the color of these pieces. I was not able to perfectly adjust the color in my photo program and then when I uploaded them, the color looks different again (less bright) on the blog. The postings are just for general information and you can see the small shifts I am making in the value patterns, trying different things and you can see the color is different each time .

I am following Nita Leland's color palettes in her new book. I have a lot of different tubes of paint but not EVERYTHING. When a color is suggested, I have gone to Handprint.com to find a similar color. I am learning a lot about color this way. It turns out that Azo Yellow and Transparent Yellow are really the same and Transparent Yellow is a better choice. Also Pyrrol Red is the same as Winsor Red or Sandal Red in Maimari (I have both! but no Pyrrol Red) As luck would have it Pyrrol red is not a good choice either so I used Winsor Red in this little painting. I am writing all this pertinent information on the back of the color cards (equivalent colors and best choices and brands)

The Thalo and Transparent Yellow made beautiful greens, so I decided to do a mostly blue and green painting. Winsor Red and Thalo Blue make very dull violets, so I worked around that. I also played with the neutral range for the background by glazing one color over the next. The other color combination of Quin Rose, Cobalt and Transparent Yellow gave the opposite results; Beautiful violets and dull, dull greens. Both combinations produced lovely orange shades. I am also exploring how dark a mixture I can produce with each combination. There is nothing more joyful than playing with color.

On the other end of the spectrum, I spent a little time this evening preparing some sheets for the Drawing Marathon on Sunday. Edward Betts has a fabulous book called "Master Class in Water Media". You can find it on Amazon. He sprinkled powdered graphite on a sheet of watercolor paper and then sprayed it with water to create this fabulous textural effect. I have the powdered graphite so I did three sheets. The directions make it sound so easy but I wasn't totally pleased with my results. It is amazing to me how difficult it is to get good results with some of this accidental technique type ideas. I can always Gesso over the ones I don't like!

A final note: Mike Bailey has tagged me. June Hymas passed on to me the Butterfly Award. I need to spend some time to consider who to pass them to. I appreciate the honors and want to be thoughtful about it.

FRENCHMAN COLOR STUDIES #1 AND #2

These 5" x 7" color studies are the beginning of my exploration for the month of December. It will probably take me all month to get through all the variations of color I want to explore. I am starting with versions of a primary (red/yellow/blue) triad. I spent part of the afternoon transferring this Frenchman image onto the small watercolor papers. I then created 6 different value patterns to start with. I will make more as time goes on. Once you have the shape drawing and the values worked out, painting goes quickly and is a lot more fun. After my first study, I discovered it was better to make a color card of the 3 hues and their mixtures first. That way I know the possibilities and the work looks fresher. I evaluated the value plan after completing the first little painting. I decided I would like to see the left side of the face without any light shapes, so that was the change I made for the second painting value plan. I like doing these little studies. They go quickly, give me lots of valuable information and are most entertaining to make! They can be stored in a sketchbook for reference. When I get one I am really excited about, I will make a larger painting.

When I was in France last year, I purchased a tin of blank watercolor postcards. I didn't like working on them because the paper was too light weight. They are the perfect thing for my colornote cards! It feels good to have a use for them. The paper has a slight rib to it, creating beautiful mingling of colors. I would like to find this paper in a 140lb weight. If anyone knows who makes this paper, let me know.

Be sure and check out the notice about the Variations workshop on the right hand side of the blog.

FRENCHMAN: LINE AS COLOR #1

This one was a lot of fun to create. I used my drawing from the "wire sculpture" challenge. I created a few value studies since I just completed a workshop where that was the emphasis. I really didn't know how to approach all the color so I just started making colored lines. I knew I wanted the background dark and a contrast in value with the outside edge. I used Caran d'ache for the colored lines and then used the Hydrus Liquid watercolors. This one is on Tyvek. The paint did a surprising thing. It appears it slipped under the resist crayon line and seeped into the next area in a very interesting way. The paint went through the paper on this sheet. It normally doesn't. I like the effect but I'm not sure I could recreate it again.

This marks the FIRST ANNIVERSARY of my blog! I can't believe it has been a whole year. I want to thank all of you who have followed along and helped to make it a big success.

NEW LINE CHALLENGE FOR THE WEEK!

The challenge for the coming week is to create a painting of THE FRENCHMAN using LINE AS A DOMINANT ELEMENT WITH THE EMPHASIS ON A COLORFUL LINE. This version of Vern has colorful line work done with torn paper. It's one of my favorites but, unfortunately, I didn't realize the paper (cheap colored tissue) will fade! Now I paint my own colored papers with light fast acrylic paint. I guess I should have a giclee made of this painting to preserve the image. Live and learn.

I am providing some additional examples of other artists who have done some fabulous work with colored line. These examples are to stimulate your thinking and come up with your own ideas. Wayne Thiebaud is the first artist that comes to mind with a shimmering color halo around his objects. Van Gogh's work can be considered texture and colored line.

I'm itching to get started!

THE DEFINITIVE WORD ON COLOR VS. VALUE!

Mike Bailey (http://www.mebaileyart.com) has sent me his considered explanation of the difference between a "color painter" and a "value painter" It is beautifully explained by one of the best teachers around. I have his permission to share his thoughts with you. Mike has a current discussion on his blog regarding design which you should definitely check out as well!


"Topher brought this up under the following context: That the only way painters can delineate *volume* or *form* is by manipulating values. That is to use values as light and shadow would behave. Alex Powers is a Value painter. He establishes form using little color and a lot of value changes. He augments his work with some textural qualities, but the image is value based. Value painters (the most common among us) us extremes of value (dark vs light) to hold the eye in an interest center or focal point.

On the other hand, colorists, are not always interested in the idea of form or volume. Instead they are more interested in showing off color differences, (hue, temperature or intensity), WITHOUT showing value shifts . . . . .that is holding the values constant . . .no indication of light and shadow . . .just flat space with color, not value, shifts.

What Powers and Schink are saying is that in a "value painting" the value differences distract the eye from the more subtle color shifts, such as a slight temperature change in red, for example. If a significantly darker space was near that temperature shift, it would not appear as obvious because of the distraction of the value contrast.

This goes to the "order of seeing." Where we see value differences first, pattern or texture second and THEN color differences. Physiologically, our eyes are made that way. We don't have a choice in the matter.

So, color painters, or colorists, rely on subtle or no value changes in order to show of color variance in temperature or intensity or hue. Luminosity, where the appearance of light coming FROM an object or surface (versus illumination . . .where light is shining ON a surface) is painted by keeping values very close, no darks, no whites . . . .using pure color tints in the luminating area and surrounding that area with near neutrals. This is an intensity change, not a value change.

Skip Lawrence a few years back was on a chase to paint "color as value" where he would use the natural value of colors as they came from the tube to show value changes and ignored the actual hue. for example, in a light and shadow situation, he might use a peach tint for light and a deep purple in shadow. The value difference was the key in his paintings. Where there were subtle color shifts in his paintings such as a change from cool red to warm red, it could not hold the eye . . .and was often missed by the viewer because of the value difference between the peach and purple.

Can painters do what Myrna did in her portrait? Absolutely. She used color as value in her peice and shows off big differences in warm hue versus cool hue . . .but the value structure is still intact. So, Alex Powers would (probably) say that hers was a value painting with colored textural elements exciting the surface.

The key in what Topher was talking about was to decide between flat versus form."

Finally, a clear definition of "Value vs. Color" that finally gets it through my brain! Thank you, Mike. I have taken Mike's class "Watercolor Beyond the Obvious" 3 times (see "series" on my website) and I remember this discussion, but I don't think I truly understood it until now. I think color may be the most complex subject in art. So great to realize that learning never stops and there is so much more to explore! I guess I am a colorful value painter. Very few of my paintings are truly "flattened". I have posted one of my exceptions. At the time I thought I was doing "color as value" and working with pure hues but now I see that although the color has value, the value is not used to define the form in a 3 dimensional way so it is a color painting with pattern as texture. My previous post of Preston Metcalf was more of a true example of color as value.