Selecting a Workhorse Brush (Narrowing the Options)!
August 30, 2010
1962 T-Bird
Saw this beauty on Passe-Grille Beach yesterday. No bikini could have turned my head. She was so stunning I couldn’t take my eyes off her. 1962 Ford Thunderbird. They don’t make ‘em like that anymore!
This is the second in a series of posts about brushwork. Last time we looked at how to hold the brush. This time let’s talk about brushes themselves. Oil painting brushes come in a variety of shapes, sizes, bristles and quality. The shear number of options is staggering. When trying to figure it out think LESS IS MORE. By that I mean learn to do a lot with a single brush type rather than having a brush for every purpose. All you really need is a “workhorse” plus a few of specialty brushes.
The first consideration when choosing a workhorse is whether it’s suitable for use with oil paint. Hog bristles have long been the standard bearer. There are good synthetics on the market but the fact that many are designed to simulate hog bristles seems to indicate that hogs are still king. I have test driven a lot of synthetics and always come back to the hog bristle. It has the durability and natural feel that I like. You just can’t go wrong with a good quality hog bristle.
round, bright flat, filbert (all are #8)
Next consider shape. The four main shapes are rounds, brights, flats and filberts. Deciding the best shape for your workhorse boils down to which holds the most paint and which is capable of the widest variety of marks? Longer bristles hold more paint. Shorter bristles hold less. That rules out brights which are short and stiff. They tend to force paint out to the edges of each stroke. Good for short impasto strokes but not so much for long flowing strokes. I imagine Van Gogh used brights as evidenced by his brushwork. A lot of brief, staccato strokes, thin in the middle and thick on the edges. Frequent reloading was required. They say Van Gogh reloaded after each stroke.
Rounds, Flats and Filberts are all about the same length and all hold a good amount of paint. That means that you can make 2 or 3, maybe four, effective strokes before reloading. So, all else being equal, it boils down to which one gives the widest variety of marks. Of these flats are probably the most versatile. Everything you can do with the other three, you can do with a flat. Plus the flat is capable of a wide crisp stroke that the others can’t quite match. Regular use can turn a flat into a filbert. So why buy filberts?
Want to find out for yourself and make a quantum leap in your brush handling skills at the same time? Try this: paint four 8″ x 10″ paintings, using a #8 of the each brush type. Do the whole painting with the one brush. So that’s one painting with only a #8 round, one painting with a #8 bright, one with a #8 flat and one with a #8 filbert. By restricting yourself to the one brush size and type, you will find creative ways to make a variety of marks with each brush. You will become very aware of each type’s capabilities and limitations. For some a #8 may seem like an awfully big brush. Try it anyway. You will discover that a variety a thin lines and small marks are possible with a bigger brush. BIGGER REALLY IS BETTER! Would love to hear some testimonials.
Next time I’ll talk about some specialty brushes. In the meantime, don’t shank your filbert!
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For those of you who are in, or will be visiting the Tampa Bay area, my ongoing classes at The Tampa Museum (plein air) and at Suntan Art Center (studio) on St. Pete Beach are in full swing. Private instruction is also available for singles and small groups. Join in! Learning is fun! Contact me for info.
Brush Technique – The Good, The Bad and the Optional!
August 19, 2010
I planned a post about the worlds largest art heist but instead I have decided to spend a post or two on brushes and how to use them. I’ll do the art heist post later on.
With September fast approaching my oil painting classes in St. Pete/Tampa at Suntan Art Center and at the Tampa Museum are cranking back up after the summer lull. Several new faces have joined the ranks of the faithful. The other day one of the newcomers said, “I have taken a lot of art classes over the years but this is the first time I’ve actually learned something in one”. Sounds funny, I know, but the reality is that many art classes are long on social pleasantry and short on education. If your looking for a painting version of the quilting bee my classes probably won’t satisfy. I am more inclined towards education than social facilitation. The classes are fun because learning is fun. Those who know me know that I make every effort to move students out of their comfort zones. Real growth requires discomfort. One sure source of some mild discomfort comes from learning the proper way to hold a brush.
First instinct is to use the brush as we would a pencil or crayon. That is holding it down near the ferrule (the metal part) while making a coloring motion with our hand. Makes sense. Especially if you grew up with an affection for coloring books. It is also great technique for rendering with pencils. However it is not good brush technique. I know it feels like you have more control holding down by the metal, but have you ever wondered why oil painting brushes have that long piece of wood attached? It’s not decorative. It’s functional. We are supposed to hold the brush at the end, far away from the metal. The pencil-like way feels comfortable, I know. But trust me, the potential for developing real skill with the brush is at the other end. By suffering a little discomfort we can improve our brushwork.
The proper way to hold the brush is with the wooden tip resting in the “V” between your thumb and index finger. The shaft then rests on your middle finger. The thumb and index finger rest on the shaft. The fingers are long rather than bent. Grip pressure should be light. Stand with your body turned so that the shoulder and foot on your brush side is closer to the easel than your off hand side. Be close enough to the easel so that you can comfortably bend the elbow and still reach the canvas with the full length of your brush. This way your brush arm is supported by the big muscles of the chest, ribcage and shoulder. Brushstrokes are then made by a swinging of the arm which is generated from those big muscles. The result is a freer, more confident stroke. It is a painterly as opposed to the rendering strokes made while holding the brush like a pencil.
An alternate hand position for holding the brush is a little like gripping a golf club. The handle is held between the thumb and index finger with the tip end of the brush resting in the palm against the pad of the hand. The other three fingers wrap golf like around the handle. As with the previously described technique the stroke comes from the shoulder supported by the big muscles.
good
bad
optional
If you are not convinced I understand. After all I am barely a blip on the radar screen of fine art. Don’t take my word for it. Instead take the advice of David Leffel who is at the top of the food chain. Here he is:
And last but not least. I have a painting featured this week on the Canaveral Seashore Paint Out website. The page advertises the event which takes place Nov. 8-13, 2010. Check it out.
How To Mix Copper Using Three Color Palette
August 11, 2010
The Copper Drinking Fountain - Jean-Baptiste Simeon Chardin; art renewal
No post last week because I was on vacation. Traveled to New York and Boston. Saw a show in the City called Jersey Boys. It’s a musical about Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons. Not my type of music but great performances and a lot of fun to watch. In Bean town we met up with a a Boston area painter who graciously showed us the best of the local art. Saw the Sargent murals in the Boston Public Library, the Art Guild, Vose Gallery and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Finally saw some Carlsons, Gruppes and Hibbards up close and personal.
While I was away a good question came through the comments section….”How do you mix the color of copper with three primary colors?” Variations of the question also come up in my still life painting classes. How do you mix silver or gold? I love such questions because they provide an opportunity to engage the student on “developing their powers of observation”. It’s not a matter of having a recipe; it’s a matter of observing well and applying the thought process described in previous posts.
The simple answer is: We don’t mix a color called copper. Instead we observe the subject carefully in terms of the colors on the color wheel. Remove the word copper from your lexicon. The lit side of a copper object can be thought of as some version of orange (hue). Your job is to determine by observation it’s value relative to gray-scale, it’s chroma (pure or neutral), and it’s relative temperature (does it lean towards yellow or red). The shadow side of copper object also has color which relates to the color wheel. It is not a darker version of the lit side. Here awareness of the light source’s temperature can help. Seen in cool natural light as from a north facing window the axiom cool light – warm shadows will apply. The shadow will probably appear warm, that is well into the red side of blue. It’ s hue will be in the purple range. As you did for the lit side, determine by observation, the shadow’s value relative to gray-scale, chroma and temperature. The axiom gives a clue but we rely on our powers of observation. For the same object seen in a warm artificial light, the axiom is reversed. It’s warm light – cool shadows. In this case you would likely see more blue in the shadow. Determine by observation: value, hue, chroma and temperature.
neutral orange
Practically speaking I would proceed by premixing piles for each of the five types of light (light, shadow, midtone, accents and reflected light). In the interest of brevity I will literate a likely scenario for the light and shadow only. The process for the other types of light is the same. Making decisions based on what I see I might mix color for the light side of a copper object, in cool natural light, using a three color palette, as follows:
- Combine yellow and red to make orange, add enough white to achieve the sought after value.
- Neutralize by adding small amounts of blue until sought after chroma is achieved.
- Add more yellow or red to achieve relative temperature.
- Add more white if necessary to mitigate any darkening caused by adding more color, especially the blue.
- Result a neutral orange that, when placed in relationship with other tones will do it’s part in depicting the metal known as copper.
For the shadow:
- Combine blue and red to make purple, add white if necessary to achieve sought after value.
- Neutralize by adding small amounts of yellow until sought after chroma is achieved.
- Add red or blue to achieve relative temperature.
- Add white or blue to mitigate incidental changes in value caused by adding the other colors.
- Result a neutral purple gray that, when placed in relationship with other tones will play a role in the depiction of copper.
A few other pertinent thoughts:
- There is such a thing as proper technique for looking at color. Good technique includes: keeping your eyes moving to avoid staring into the passage, using peripheral vision and turning your head upside down thereby shifting focus from what objects are to how they look in terms of color. The usual mistake is staring intently at the passage. This is quite a natural thing to do but we must train ourselves to avoid it. When we stare into the passage our cones and rods are bombarded with information to the point our brains are not able to decipher it.
- If you are using good technique and still cannot determine what a color is that is a sure indication that it is very neutral. You can probably get there using two compliments. When this happens I ask myself if I see two colors vibrating within the passage. For example sometimes the color of a sandy beach is not obvious. Often I think I see a vibration of cool greens and reds. Mixing red and green may start the mixture in the right direction.
- A good instructor really can help remove the scales from your eyes. They can validate or correct what you see. Often times I tell a student that a particular passage is this color or that, but they still don’t see it. When I mix the tone and place the note on their canvas they usually can see it. With practice their powers of observation grow and they learns to see skillfully….and to trust what they see, too.
- Each time I mentioned a “type of light” in this article I highlighted with bold for special emphasis. That is to encourage you to think less about what an object is and more about it’s constituent parts. Instead of painting a thing, such as a copper pot, paint light, shadows, midtones, accents and reflected lights. Being fully engaged in these constituent parts of form will foster real growth.
By the way, new plein air classes are underway at the Tampa Museum of Fine Art. I am also available for private instruction. Contact me for info.
Cooking Up a Pile of Paint (Mixing Colors Elaborated!)
July 26, 2010
Based on a comment to the previous post I thought I would elaborate a little on the phrase I used, “…..add whatever on your palette will make the change.” Here’s an example:
Let’s say you are working from a palette limited to the three primaries (a red, a yellow and a blue) plus white. And let’s say you are painting a landscape with a bright blue sky, whereby, typical of most clear blue skies the blue is darkest and bluest high in the sky and grades lighter and greener approaching the horizon. You might start the mixing process like this:
- The sky is light so I will need a lot of white and since it is blue I need to add blue. (that’s your hue)
- I evaluate the pile relative to my subject and conclude that the pile needs to be darker. Looking at the options available given the limited palette, I conclude that the red will make it darker and so will the blue. I choose the blue since it seems to serve the purpose better than the red (the red would take me out of blue into purple. I don’t want to go there). So I add enough blue to reach my desired value.
- Evaluating the pile again I like the value but feel the blue is to rich, I want to neutralize it a little. Neutralizing (reducing chroma) can be accomplished by adding the color’s complement. The complement of blue is orange. Given the options available on my palette I decide to add orange by adding a little red and a little yellow.
- Okay that’s good but as the sky gets closer to the horizon it looks more blue-green. So I want to shift my pile a little toward green. The only option available to me is to add a little yellow. So I do and voila, now I have blue green.
- The sky gets lighter as it continues down so, looking at the options available, I add white.
Mixing colors is a little like cooking. The palette of colors corresponds to spices in the spice rack. Different spices have different effects. The usual way of using them is to add them according to taste. We taste the stew and decide it’s too bland. We review our inventory of spices and think, “What will liven this up a little?” How about a little heat? What are my options? Cayenne, black pepper, paprika? We make a choice and add it to the stew. We taste again, satisfied that it is livened up we might think, it needs depth or finishing, perhaps some kosher salt…..
The point is we make adjustments to the flavor of the stew based on desired effect and the spice options available until we get something that works and pleases. Mixing colors is not much different. The choices available are predicated by the paints on your palette same as the spices in the rack. My wife is a great cook and is capable of using a wide array of spices with great effect. When I cook I use a limited spice palette. I stick to salt, pepper and oregano. Sometimes I get jiggy with it and throw in some garlic powder or paprika. But the bulk of my spicing is with the basic salt, pepper and oregano. It works but it is limited. Same with paint. For a couple of years I restricted myself to a three color palette. In so doing I learned to understand the decision making process and relate it to colors observed. The constraints inherent in the three color palette kept me from the temptation to match tone for tone the colors observed in nature. It can’t be done. But the relationships can be painted by comparing one passage to another in the context of value and the attributes of color: This shadow is darker and warmer than that one, which is lighter and cooler. The red on the tractor is more saturated than the red on the barn which is duller. I may not be able to match colors exactly but I can paint how they compare to each other. Colors do not exist in isolation. They exist relative to each other in the context of value and the attributes of color. That is in terms of how light or dark they are (value). What color they are (hue). How intense or neutral (chroma). And whether they are warm or cool (temperature). So although the red paint I am using may not match the red of the barn or the tractor I can make it more intense for the tractor and duller for the barn.
I honestly don’t think talent has as much to with mixing as understanding of the concepts of value, hue, chroma and temperature. Once those concepts are understood it becomes a matter of practice with a set palette. Always changing the colors in your palette will hinder learning. I recommend a limited palette for those prone to struggle. It simplifies the decision making process by reducing the number of options. Later you will make informed decisions on how to expand your palette. Next I will look at some reasons for expanding from a limited palette and how I changed my palette to suit my taste. This is leading up to a discussion of “What is good color?”
Practical Advice for Mixing Oil Colors
July 20, 2010
Portrait of Benjamin Franklin by David Martin; courtesy artrenewal.org
Here’s some free advice that may pay off and be worth a couple of benjamins someday:
It occurs to me that a lot of emphasis on painting from life may lead to an erroneous conclusion about color. Seems logical to assume that the object of working from life is so we may accurately observe and mix the colors in nature. True, the ability to mix colors with a good degree of accuracy is a handy skill. But good color goes beyond accurate mixing. (More on that later.) For the moment lets develop the skills necessary to mix reasonably accurate colors. I say “reasonably accurate” because there may be some constraints inherent in your palette which render the ability to match exactly, tone for tone, the colors seen in nature, impossible. That fact relieves us of the need to remember recipes and formulas. A practical thought process is best:
- Know that every tone has a value component and and 3 basic color attributes (hue, chroma, temperature)
- Start mixing the note with the color on your palette that most closely estimates the needed value and hue.
- Ask yourself does this pile need to be lighter or darker? Adjust the pile accordingly, choosing to add whatever on your palette will make the change.
- Does this pile need to be warmer or cooler? Make the necessary adjustment.
- Does this pile need to be more neutral or more intense? Make the necessary adjustment.
- Know that each time you make an adjustment to hue, temperature or chroma you may need to mitigate inadvertent changes caused by the adjustment. For example if you made the pile cooler by adding ultramarine blue you may have also made it darker. You may need to add white or another lighter color to mitigate that.
- It can helpful to fill in the blank…This pile is too ________.
Key to making this work is staying in the process. The solution to getting your pile of paint from where it is to where you want to be lies solely in making adjustments to value, hue, chroma and temperature. It’s a matter of bouncing your eyes back and forth from subject to pile. Sometimes it happens that the pile gets pretty big and still needs adjusting. If that happens divide the pile in half and further adjust one half. It’s easier to shift a smaller amount of paint.
One other suggestion; try mixing all of your general tones before starting to paint. I like to premix piles which represent things like upper sky, lower sky, underside of cloud, lighted cloud face, shadow side of tree, light side of tree, grass in light, grass in shadow…..etc. From there its a matter of minor shifts to each pile as I paint the picture. It enables more focus more on the painting and less on the palette.
Nest time I delve into the subject of “good color”.
Meantime, don’t forget! New plein air painting class at the Tampa Museum of art is starting this fall. We will meet Saturdays 11am -2pm. Click here for info. Also I am available for private instruction and workshops. I like to travel, especially to northern climes in summer. For info contact me.
Truth, Beauty and Simplification
July 13, 2010
Still Life with Pansies - Henri Fantin-Latour
The study of painting should be based on the realization that there are fundamental truths which under-gird the beauty of fine art. Paintings are not good simply because they are colorful, expressive or popular. Good paintings get their goodness from fundamental truths. Were it not so any purveyor of paint covered canvas could lay claim to being an artist. Superficiality in painting serves no purpose other than the gratification of an impulse. Like religion, art must surpass superficiality to be effective. It must have depth. Artistic expression should be rooted in the passing of inspiration through the prism of intelligence. Intelligent art possesses truth and beauty.
Empirical evidence demonstrates that certain truths are present in the beautiful work of acknowledged masters. When Isaac Newton noticed that solid objects tended to fall to earth he concluded that there must be fundamental truths which govern falling bodies. Likewise, if form, with its constituent parts, is evident in great paintings, it is safe to conclude that there are fundamental truths which govern form in the depiction of three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface. To incorporate such truth into our work would be to apprehend one of the underpinnings of fine art. Practically speaking, if we were to paint Newton’s apple we should endeavor to imbue each brushstroke with specific intent relative to the constituent parts of form according to our level of ability and understanding. The cumulative effect of such practice would give rise to the development of skill. Skill would give rise to the perception of deeper truths wherein lie the seeds of growth.
The logical progression from the ability to depict form is the ability to simplify. Simplification is abstraction. It is a reduction from clear depiction to mere suggestion. It is the intentional vagueness whereby form and detail are hinted at rather than spelled out. Form is resolved into simple shapes and tones which clue the viewer as to what is being depicted. The viewer then has an active role in the painting. His/her mind supplies information which is not really there. The key to simplifying form is knowing how to depict form in the first place. An author can’t edit a sentence for brevity without knowing how to write. Simplification equates to brevity.
Narcissus and Tulips - Henri Fantin-Latour
Knowing how to simplify also flows from knowing why. The “why” is easily illustrated. With eyes focused on the words on your computer screen lift one hand until you can see it out of your peripheral vision. Still focused on the screen notice you can see the hand but without much detail and without much clarity. Now shift your focus to the hand. While focused on the hand , information on the screen lacks clarity. You can not focus on the hand and read these words at the same time. You can tell there are paragraphs of varying size on the screen but you can’t read them until you shift focus away from the hand and back to words. That is how the human eye works. It cannot focus on two things at the same time. An artist can employ this reality when necessary to subordinate one form to another. For instance,when painting a vase full of flowers it makes sense not to render each bloom with equal clarity. We can not focus on all of the blooms at once. Painting them as if we could would cause our viewers to suffer confusion and discomfort as they strained to know where to focus. It makes more sense to select one or two dominant blooms and paint them with a higher degree of clarity than the others. Each bloom is supplied with less detail the farther removed it is from the dominant ones. In this way the viewer’s attention is focused by the clarity of the one or two while at the same time being engaged by the reduction to abstraction in the others. The beauty lies not in the fact that flowers are being painted but rather in the painter’s judgment and handling of this fundamental truth. Artistry lies not in the copying of details and nuances as they appear when shifting our focus form object to object within the scope of our scene. Artistry lies, among other things, in the process of selective emphasis and d emphasis. It’s essence transcends the subject and adds depth to the original inspiration.
Pics courtesy Art Renewal Center.
The Beauty of Simplicity!
July 7, 2010
As a rule I don’t advertise for other artists on this blog but I am going to make an exception. The artist I’m plugging is Julie Messerschmidt. Julie is a friend and crit buddy. By that I mean we get together for critique sessions, offering each other encouragement and constructive criticism of new work. Nice to have an extra set of eyes, especially when stuck. Anyway, Julie’s first solo exhibit opens this week in Tampa. Her beautiful food related still life paintings convey her passion for cooking and fine food. Her work would add taste to any wall. For those readers who are local to the Tampa Bay area please go, enjoy the show and lend your support.
I have an ulterior motive for mentioning her show. It’s so I can mention that Julie took classes from me for a time. Not that I want to take credit for her growth but I want to encourage those of you who are still suffering my dry sense of humor on a weekly basis. You too can improve and achieve. Growth is directly proportional to effort. We have to acquire knowledge and cover canvas. Your understanding will always be ahead of your ability to execute. That means that the stuff you are learning today may not show up in your work for awhile. Keep striving.
I also want to mention something about the beauty of simplicity. One common obstacle to growth is a hyper-focus on detail. It’s easy to complicate our paintings to point of confusing the viewer. All the detail in the world will not make a good painting if we forget to paint the big shapes. Conversely, if we clearly state the big shapes we could neglect much of the detail and still end up with a strong painting. Consider these two paintings by John Fedrick Kensett courtesy of artrenewal.org.
In this one, Kensett divided the canvas into three big shapes: Upper sky, lower sky, water.
John Fredrick Kensett - Passing Off of the Storm
In this one, Kensett divided the canvas into four big shapes: Sky, water, land, beach.
Eaton's Neck, Long Island
These designs are so simple they are almost abstract. More on big shapes in next week’s post. Let’s all go paint something!
Wise Words From Edgar Payne
June 29, 2010
Edgar Payne, 1971, Canyon de Chelly
It’s great a privilege to teach ongoing classes and give workshops. Both provide the opportunity to work with student artists, most of whom have similar stories. For one reason or another life kept them from pursuing an interest in or passion for, painting. Eventually circumstances have either permitted or demanded that they get started. Thus begins the great adventure and it’s fun for me because I have been there. Not that I have reached any sort of a pinnacle. The road is still unfolding before me even while ground already traversed is visible in the rear view mirror. It’s not surprising that there are fellow travelers back there, on the same journey, trying to find the good path. Others have marked it for us. I don’t get to take credit for blazing the trail. All I do is call attention to guide posts. The guide posts we need to follow are tried and true. They are the principles of painting. Progress is made when the student focuses his or her attention on learning those principles. But sometimes students make a persistent effort to set aside principles, hoping they can progress without real learning. They are looking for a shortcut (a formula). It’s kind of like those diet plans that promise you’ll lose weight without exercise. It’s a strategy that disregards the value of achievement. It was Edgar Payne who said, “Nature does not capriciously scatter her secrets as golden gifts to lazy poets and luxurious darlings, but imposes tasks when she presents opportunities.” Payne also said, “… if the student is to fulfill the intended purpose of art, he will have to mix brains with paint.“ We have to apply reason along with study and practice. One of the beauties of painting is that it’s principles are logical and because they are logical they are learn-able. Payne also said, “Knowledge precedes execution. No one can paint better than he knows how: Accumulate knowledge, Study nature often, Practice Continually.“ Here are some practical suggestions:
- Accumulate knowledge by making a principled study of books, blogs and instructional videos. Visit museums and galleries, in print or online. Try to figure out how others answered the questions you are wrestling with. Make this a daily pursuit.
- Study nature by examining how the principles of painting apply. That doesn’t mean sitting around ….”La, la, la, la, la” enjoying the butterflies as they flit about your garden. I do that too, but here I mean something more purposeful. Studying nature effectively means studying the shapes, values, colors and edges in your surroundings. Try comparing the undersides of near clouds with that of distant clouds. Which are lighter, which are darker? Which are warmer, which are cooler? Maybe you just read about Carlson’s 4 Value planes or Sargent’s 5 types of light. Can you find those principles evident in nature or the forms around you when you are out and about. Such purposeful study trains your visual acuity, develops your powers of observation and builds your mental library of understanding.
- Practicing continually means actually practicing. Painting once a week in class is not enough if you are a serious student. Nor is copying photos. There is no substitute for drawing and painting from life. Want to practice drawing the figure? Go to a Starbucks. You’ll get an endless series of 60 second poses as customers approach the register. Not comfortable enough to practice in public? Designate an area of your home to painting. Have an easels and supplies ready and waiting. When opportunity presents itself put a tomato on the window sill and paint that, the key is to get miles of canvas under your belt. There is no substitute for time spent behind the easel. You don’t always have to be working on a big idea or something that will eventually become a finished painting. Professional golfers go to the driving range to work on different aspects of their game. Artists, especially developing artists need to do that, too. No excuses like, “paint is a little expensive, I don’t want to waste it”. So is ice cream but you still buy it. SPLURGE a little, WASTE SOME PAINT. IT IS AN INVESTMENT IN YOUR EDUCATION even if some gets thrown away! “Okay, but don’t I run the risk of practicing wrong and developing bad habits”. Yeah, maybe, but not practicing is the worst habit of them all. Just remember to practice in conjunction with the accumulation of knowledge and the study of nature.
I think Payne was right. There is no way around it. A persistent, consistent effort sustained over time and focused on accumulating knowledge, studying nature and continued practice is a sure formula for fostering growth as an artist. Don’t forget to mark the trail so others can find it.
It’s More “How” You Paint And Less “What”.
June 7, 2010
The Refit by Robert J. Simone - plein air oil, 9x12
Here is a painting which is on it’s way to The Wisconsin Maritime Museum, in Manitowoc, Wisconsin for the American Society of Marine Artists North Regional Show – Between the Shining Seas. Obviously, it depicts about a 40 ft. sailing vessel out of the water for refitting. As any sailor knows, haul out for refitting is a time of renewal for both ship and soul. It’s a time spent anticipating new adventures. This face-lit profile lent itself well to the iconic symbolization of such. Yet the painting is a great example of something students often hear me say, “Good painting is not subject driven.”
How so? Well, the real strength of the painting is not so much subject matter as it is the use of color. Two sets of complements are at play. One set is the warm muted red on the lit part of the keel along with the cool blue of the sky and metal jack stands. The other is the cool red of the bottom in shadow opposite the warm green of the grass. Mid-tones at the bow (the pointy end) and stern are conveniently framed by face lit sheds in the background. These are also cool against warm and warm against cool, respectively. Notice that the bow is not only cool relative to the shed but warm relative to the sky. It fits into a slot. It’s like the slot size called for in some fishing regulations. For example, according to Gulf of Mexico rules, a keeper Snook is one larger than 28″ but smaller than 33″. Any Snook caught, which is outside that range must be released. See last week’s post about painting relationships.
The drama of late day sunshine was infused with a warm tonal quality achieved by adding a pre-mixed ocher like gray (Adobe by Vasari) to every color except the sky, which was under-painted using said gray. The painting is also helped by the fact that all three primaries are present in differing amounts. There is a lot of blue, a medium amount of red and small touches of yellow (on the crane and ladder).
In those respects the sailboat is a stage over which the drama of light and color plays. It could just as easily have been a white horse wearing red converse all stars….well, okay, it’s not that the sailboat lends nothing to painting’s content, it does. It’s just that the sailboat is not what drives the painting. The whole discussion is a way of encouraging you to think less about what it is you are painting and more about how you are painting it.
Learning to Paint Relationships
June 1, 2010
It’s been said that no color exists in isolation. I think it was Emile Gruppe, in his book Gruppe on Painting, who said that you wouldn’t know red without green. That comment dovetails nicely from our previous discussion on complements. Not only do complementary colors modify and neutralize each other when mixed; they accent one another when placed side by side. To some extent colors actually generate their compliments. In the landscape, dark masses will take on color that is complementary to the sky. A tree mass back-lit by a yellow sunrise will take on a deep, alizarin purple tone. There is a relationship there, one mass to another, neither existing in isolation. Painting relationships is vital. Carlson said, “We must not train our eyes to copy tone for tone, but think of the bearing of such colors and harmonies upon the main idea of our picture.”
As students we don’t start out doing that, we start out trying match tone for tone. This is especially true for those who cut their painting teeth by copying photos. Not that photos aren’t useful reference material. They are. But problems arise when the student paints exclusively from photos, never from life. Not painting from life leads to a truncated development that tends to neglect the necessity of learning to paint relationships. This is often further compounded by the use of an “open” palette; one that changes from painting session to painting session, relying on specialty colors to match the tone of whatever objects we are working on today. I think it’s better to work with a fixed palette that doesn’t change based on the local color of subject matter. Here’s why….
We couldn’t facsimilize nature if we wanted to. What God has done with matter and light we cannot do with mere paint and canvas. It is impossible to match tone for tone, nuance for nuance everything we see in nature. Even an extensive spectral palette has limitations compared to nature. However, we can make good paintings provided we know and work within our limitations. By fixing our palette and accepting it’s limitations it is possible to do paintings that possess the essence of reality on a number of levels. The secret is in the painting of relationships. Therein lies the value of a limited palette. The limited palette eliminates the temptation to match tone for tone. It forces us to think, see and mix in terms of relationships. That means we compare one mass to another. In our head that may sound like this, “The shadow side of the tree is warmer and darker than it’s cast shadow.” So doing we begin to understand the interplay of masses within a given subject, within a given painting. None of them exists in isolation. They exist in relative terms one to another. Think of it this way. If everyone were seven feet tall no one would seem tall at all. But a seven footer does seem tall when he is standing in a crowd which averages six feet or less. Likewise red is redder next to green. An intense color seems more intense next to a neutral one. A light mass seems lighter next to a dark one.
Here are two pictures of the same painting. The first picture is the way it looked when I brought it home from the field. It seemed a little soft and above all the sky seemed too dark and a little oppressive. The second picture is after I reworked it in the studio. Although the sky was the problem I never touch it when I reworked the picture. I repainted everything from the tree tops down (except the trees behind the house). By darkening the shadows, adding warmer lights to ground plane and more warm grasses along the banks of the algae covered pond I made the sky appear much lighter without ever touching it.
Fair Oaks - original state as it was when I returned from the field
Fair Oaks - after reworking from treetops down
Don’t forget, my Tuscanny workshop in April 2011. We will be painting relationships! Now is the best time to register!
