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The Plein Air Zonea free monthly newsletter
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Back to Newsletter Home View Past Issues:How ToJune 2010 "Structures in Oil" May 2010 "Structures" April 2010 "One of a Kind" March 2010 "Nocturnes" February 2010 "Let it Snow" January 2010 Sweet Mystery: Part Two December 2009 Sweet Mystery: Part One November 2009 Organizing Chaos October 2009 Saving the Best for Last September 2009 Letting the Paint Work for You August 2009 Watercolor: Teaching the Unteachable June 2009 "Sketchbooks" April 2009 "East Meets West" Feb 2009 “Establishing a Focal Point” Jan 2009 “Craftsmanship” Dec 2008 “Another Approach” Nov 2008 “The Incidence of Angle” Oct 2008 “Back to the Basics” Sept 2008 “As Clear as Mud” Aug 2008 “Compartmentalizing Your Washes” June 2008 “Lemons to Lemonade” May 2008 “Las Flores de la Mancha” March 2008 “Narrative Painting” Dec. 2007 “Painting Out Of Your Head” Sept. 2007 “Contours and Shapes” Oct. 2007 “Contours and Shapes – Part Two” Nov. 2007 “Contours and Shapes – Part Three” July 2007 “Knowing Your Palette” June 2007 “Giving Yourself An Edge” Art of the SketchbookJune 2009 "Sketchbooks" Jan. 2007 “Art on the Road” Oct. 2006 “Utilizing Your Sketches” Sept. 2006 “The Art of the Sketchbook” MusingsApril 2010 "One of a Kind" April 2008 “Who’s Responsible?” Aug 2007 “Developing a Style” May 2007 “The Intangibles” Feb. 2007 “Painting the California Coast” Dec. 2006 “Reflections”
The Business of ArtApr. 2007 “The Gallery Scene” March 2007 “Beginning Your Professional Art Career”
Art HistoryMarch 2010 "Nocturnes" July 2008 “En Plein Air Painting – Then and Now” Feb. 2008 “Harvey Dunn and Dean Cornwell – Some insights into their working methods” Jan 2008 “The Golden Age of Illustration” Nov. 2006 “Sargent Watercolors”
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July 2007 Knowing Your PaletteI don’t believe there is anything more sensuous or beautiful than the right mixture of pigments in a well-executed painting. Nonetheless, mixing the right colors seems to be an endless source of frustration for many artists. The tempo of watercolor painting demands quick decisions, and it’s imperative that the painter has a thorough knowledge of what will happen in his choice of color mixtures. We all begin with a basic knowledge of color. Red and yellow make orange, blue and yellow make green and so forth. However, it’s imperative that we know the characteristics of our paints. Will the mixture I choose accomplish my goals? Will the outcome be the final color I was aiming for? Will the colors granulate (cerulean blue and cadmium red), will one of the pigments overpower and dominate (pthalo blue, alizarin crimson) and will I be able to achieve the value I want, using a particular mixture? By familiarizing ourselves with our palette, we can address all of these questions long before we begin laying down washes on that big masterpiece. After all, no concert musician gives a recital without having spent a great deal of time practicing his scales. So let me offer some suggestions on how you can become better acquainted with the colors on your palette. One sure fire way of accomplishing this task is to paint a series of color charts. These charts will give you a comprehensive knowledge of how each of your pigments interacts with the other pigments on your palette. It will also provide you with a lifetime reference for future works. The concept is simple, but requires steady concentration. You select a particular color – say ultramarine blue. You then pick another color on your palette – say cadmium red. Mix them together in eight color swatches with values ranging from one to eight. Make sure that each mixture is one value darker than the previous. It will take some practice. Don’t be discouraged. Rome wasn’t built in a day. When you’ve got that one down, take ultramarine and another pigment, like alizarin crimson, and repeat the procedure. Continue until you’ve mixed ultramarine against all the pigments on your palette. Then pick another pigment, like cobalt blue, and mix that pigment against all the colors on the palette. Do this with the other colors until you have complete charts on all the colors on your palette. These charts will not only expand your knowledge of color, but they will also aid you in your understanding of value as well. I know that these charts are tedious and time consuming, but the knowledge you will gain will be indelible, and I guarantee your control over color will take a quantum leap. Here’s another approach that is a lot of fun and can accomplish similar results. Do a series of painting studies using only three primaries (red, yellow and blue). You would be amazed on how far you can go with just a warm and a cool of each of the primaries on your palette. Sometimes keeping it simple is the best route to go. By minimizing your color mixtures, you build in an automatic color harmony and gain an understanding of how certain pigments work with each other. Take your cool blue (ultramarine blue) and paint a study using your warm red (cadmium red) and a yellow (new gamboges). Then use ultramarine, and alizarin crimson and new gamboge, and paint the same study. Then replace new gamboge with yellow ochre and paint the same study (once with cadmium red and once with alizarin crimson). Then move to cobalt blue and repeat the process. Continue on until you’ve used all the combinations of primaries on your palette. Not only will you be learning about the qualities of your pigments, but also you will be discovering new color harmonies that you never knew existed. I generally use this technique when I introduce a new color on my palette. I’ve included a few examples that you might find interesting. Note how each combination lends a slightly different mood to each study, which pigments granulate and the effect of a semi-transparent, like naples yellow, has on the mixtures.
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