Palette Mixing Guide

Student Work: Black and White Still Life

Here are the first still life paintings from the class:



Gus Hoffman
Oil on Canvas
8x10

Mike Olaya
Oil on Canvas
8x10

Renee Larson
Oil on Canvas
6x8

Great work everyone!

Aaron Coberly Step-by-Step

Here's a nice step-by-step from Aaron Coberly:

http://www.aaroncoberly.com/2010/12/animated-painting-from-biginning-to-end.html

You can click on the first image to see it animate through the stages.

Of particular note is the range of frequencies present in the finished painting.  The hands remain very low frequency, while the head and hat get a relatively higher frequency treatment- though it's still not very high.

A Business Parable

This parable comes from Merlin Mann's excellent blog 43 Folders:

http://www.43folders.com/2010/11/04/suddenly-last-sandwich

This parable is directed towards business owners and freelancers (particularly web designers), but it resonates for the artist all the more- artists in particular seem to have trouble when it comes time to start charging for their artwork.  I know it's something that I still struggle with.  This parable speaks to that business side, and to remember that if you make a good product, there are people out there who are willing to pay good money for it- even if it's artwork.

Being a Parable for the Edification of Independents Seeking Independence

THE PARABLE

THE OSTENSIBLE CUSTOMER enters a deli and saunters up to the counter. The deli is tended by its rakishly handsome owner, THE SANDWICH GUY.

“Hi,” says The Sandwich Guy. “What looks good to you today?”

“Slow down,” says The Ostensible Customer, as THE LUNCH RUSH starts trickling in. “Lots of delis want my business, so, first I need to really understand what you can do for me.”

“Well,” says The Sandwich Guy, “I guess I can try to do what I do for everybody here and make you a customized version of any of the 15 awesome sandwiches you see on my menu. What’re you hungry for?”

“Easy, easy, Ricky Roma! Before I make any decisions here I’m going to need to know a lot more about my options. Why are you so obsessed with ‘what I want?’”

“Okay, sorry,” says The Sandwich Guy, uneasily eyeing the growing queue of The Lunch Rush now piling up behind The Ostensible Customer. “What else can I do to help here?”

“That’s better,” says The Ostensible Customer. “Let’s start by sitting down for a couple hours and going over all the ingredients you have back there.”

The Sandwich Guy laughs congenially and hands The Ostensible Customer a menu. “Friend, I can make you whatever you want, but, if it helps, the 15 sandwiches listed here show all the ingredients–right there between the name and the price…”

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! The price?!? Already you’re reaching for my wallet? Jeez, I barely just arrived.”
The Lunch Rush is getting restless and grumbling audibly.

“Well. You know. I do sell sandwiches for a living,” says The Sandwich Guy. “Did you have a certain budget in mind for your lunch?”

“Oh, God, no. I’m nowhere near that point yet. I still need to learn a lot more about how you work, and so, obviously, I have no idea what I want to pay. Obviously.”

“Okay,” says The Sandwich Guy, “but…I can’t do much for you here without knowing either what you want to eat or how much money you want to spend. You get that, right?”

The Ostensible Customer is miffed.

“Listen, here. What I ‘get,’ so-called Sandwich Guy, is that you’re not going to rush me into some tricky lifetime sandwich commitment until I understand precisely who I’m working with. And, so far, I do not like what I see. Still. I intend to find out more. So, meet me in Canada tomorrow to talk about this for an hour.”
The Lunch Rush begins waving their wallets as they lob their completed order forms at The Sandwich Guy’s face.

“Sorry,” says The Sandwich Guy. “I can’t do that. How about I just make you a Reuben. It’s really good, it’s our most popular sandwich, and it only costs eight bucks.”

“WHAT! EIGHT DOLLARS! ‘Dollars’ with a ‘d?’ That’s way too much!”

“I thought you didn’t have a budget,” says The Sandwich Guy.

“Well, I don’t. And, besides, I don’t really ‘need’ a sandwich at all. Now, kindly fly to Canada.”

“That’s not going to happen, sir.”

“Also,” says The Ostensible Customer, “if I do decide to get a sandwich from you–and it’s looking increasingly less likely that I will–I’ll absolutely expect your deeply discounted price to reflect the fact that I’m not particularly hungry right now.”

The Lunch Rush begins lighting torches and chanting a guttural chant, not unlike the haunting overtone singing of Tuvan herdsmen.

“Look,” sighs The Sandwich Guy, “it sounds like you need a little more time. Here’s a free Coke and a complimentary bowl of pickles. Please have a seat, take all the time you need, then just come on up whenever you’re ready to order, okay?”

“‘READY?!?’ TO…‘ORDER?!?’ Are you out of your mind?”

“Mmmm…apparently.”

Presently, The Ostensible Customer turns beet-red.

“This is an outrage! I can’t even imagine how you stay in business when you treat your customers like this.”
The Lunch Rush grows silent as The Sandwich Guy slowly leans over the counter and smiles–his nose one slice of corned beef from The Ostensible Customer’s nose.

“Sir. First off: you aren’t my customer yet. Right now, you’re just some dude holding a bowl of free pickles.”
“Buh?” fumbled The Ostensible Customer.

“And, second, the way I ‘stay in business’ is by making great sandwiches and having as few conversations like the one we’re having as possible,” The Sandwich Guy coos.

“Because, the truth is, my real customers are actually all those nice people standing behind you. They’re the people who buy my sandwiches with real money over and over again. I really like them, and so I give them almost all of my attention.”

The Sandwich Guy waves at The Lunch Rush. The Lunch Rush waves back. The Ostensible Customer looks stunned.

“Sir,” says The Sandwich Guy “enjoy your Coke and your pickles with my compliments. But, please step aside. Because right now, there’s a whole bunch of hungry people trying to buy sandwiches that won’t require me flying to Canada. Next, please!”

The Lunch Rush roars approval. The Ostensible Customer is still stunned. Which is unfortunate.
Because, several men from the back of the line spontaneously rush forward to drag The Ostensible Customer, screaming and grasping, onto the busy sidewalk outside, where they proceed to devour his flesh like those street urchins who eat Elizabeth Taylor’s cousin in Suddenly, Last Summer.

Meanwhile, The Sandwich Guy goes back to making sandwiches. And, The Lunch Rush goes back to eating them.

THE MORAL(S)?

1. The Sandwich Guy can’t do much for you until you’re hungry enough to really want a sandwich.
2. Once you’re hungry enough, you still have to pay money for the sandwich. This won’t not come up.
3. Few people become “a good customer” without understanding both 1 and 2.
4. Few companies become “a smart business” without understanding 1, 2, and 3.
5. Basing his business on an understanding of 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 doesn’t make The Sandwich Guy a dick; it makes him a smart business.
6. If you vacation with Elizabeth Taylor? Seriously. Avoid provoking the cannibalistic rent boys.

THE HOPE

Me? I just very much hope it takes you far less than 15 years to see and accept these sorts of things. Both as a customer and as a business.

Guys, avoid working for anyone who’s not hungry enough to compensate you for your sandwich. It literally doesn’t pay.

Why It's Critical to Step Back and/or Squint

Here's a great demonstration of why it's so important to step back from your painting:

http://blog.jonathanlinton.com/2010/09/step-away-from-painting.html

Class Notes - August 18, 2010

A bit backlogged getting these typed up...

• Oiling Out
• Why
• Restores value of darker colors, which often lighten when they dry and turn matte.  Essentially, you need to make the colors wet again.
• When
• Whenever the value has shifted enough to throw off your judgment
• Where
• Preferably only in the areas you plan on painting in that day's session.  Straight oil with no pigment in it can do strange things to paint applied over it.
• How
• Take a small bit of oil on a brush and work it onto the desired areas
• Try to keep it as thin as possible
• If possible, wipe as much oil as possible off with a paper towel or rag.  The idea is to have as little oil as possible on the surface to re-establish the colors.
• Painting into a couch
• Painting into a couch refers to putting oil or medium onto the canvas to create a different surface in which to work.  It's related to oiling out, but they aren't exactly the same thing.  Oiling out is done to re-establish values, while painting into a couch is done to change the working surface of the canvas so the paint goes on differently.  So, when oiling out, you are also creating a couch to paint into.
• Choosing/Editing Reflections
• Sometimes it's necessary to modify a reflection or leave it out altogether in order to enhance the form.
• The envelope
• The envelope is an optical drawing technique where the major points on the contour of the subject are connected with straight or nearly-straight lines.  Then, the points are cross-referenced and triangulated until they are more accurate.  Then the drawing can be further divided and refined.
• Ellipses and Cylinders

Better Sphere Rotation

Sphere Rotation

On Gesture...

Say you have Superman punching the lights out of some supervillain. Now, put Mickey Mouse in the same pose, so he's doing the same thing as Superman. You can't just stick his arm out- he needs to be punching the lights out of the supervillain. You can do this, even though Mickey's proportions are very different from Superman's.

That's gesture.

Class Notes - July 28, 2010

• 2D/Optical Drawing
• Envelope
• Practice judging width to height, particularly for objects in perspective
• How to measure this with a pencil
• 3D/Constructive Drawing
• Basic Box Construction
• Basic 2-point perspective setup
• Sides that are further away are smaller
• Ellipses in perspective
• Light & Shadow
• Progression of values on form - Modeling Factors
• Light
• Halftone
• Shadow
• Secondary (Reflected) Light
• Looking for shadow shapes
• Get these in first when possible

Class Notes - July 14, 2010

• 2 general approaches to drawing:
• 2D - drawing the shapes that things create.  Comparisons are made in two dimensions: plumb lines, angles, distances in picture plane, shapes (not volumes).  Requires you to be fairly meticulous and precise.
• 3D - drawing the volumes that things are made up of.  Requires a lot of knowledge of perspective.
• Best to understand and use both approaches
• Fixing a drawing
• There are always at least two solutions to a perceived problem:
• If a vase, for example, looks too tall, it could either be too tall or too skinny
• Instead of immediately looking at the area of the problem itself, a good first step is to look for information elsewhere in the picture to determine which solution is best 
• For example, if we immediately decide our vase is too tall and make it shorter, we might miss the fact that if we view it in comparison to the other objects, we might realize that the height is right, and in fact the vase is too skinny.
• Negative space
• Shapes around an object also dictate its shape.

• In this classic illusion, the white vase is the negative space for the two black faces, and vice versa.
• From the 2D/optical approach, drawing can be looked at as solving a puzzle of negative shapes and positive shapes

Article on Color Mixing

This past weekend I stumbled on a good article on color mixing that David Rourke wrote over at his blog:

http://rourkevisualart.com/wordpress/articles/color-and-color-mixing/

Class Notes - July 7, 2010

• Edges
• First get edge contrast
• Then get edge quality
• Frustration
• When you don't know, there's a tendency to rush
• Better to see what you're doing wrong than to get it right
• Requires slowing down
• Ways to adjust edge quality
• Brush it in correctly the first time (most difficult)
• Mix intermediary tone and lay it in with a small brush
• Lay down a sharp edge with wet paint on both sides of the edge, then soften with a clean, dry brush
• For very soft edges, zig-zag across edge, then smooth
• Scrape off with palette knife
• Scumble over dry paint
• Don't go too far along an edge without some change in edge quality

Modeling Factor Animation - Cylinder to Pitcher Base

Here's an example of how the shadow, halftone, and light would change as a cylinder changes into the base of a pitcher:

Class Notes - June 23, 2010

• Be your own best teacher
• Engage in ongoing research on yourself, the materials you use, and the world around you.
• Use other teachers as fodder for own research
• It's your responsibility to extract as much out of the experience as possible
• Sometimes that will mean asking a lot of questions
• Sometimes that will mean shutting up and listening/watching as much as possible
• If the teacher is terrible, look for other students to learn from
• Don't sit around like a baby bird and wait to get fed.
• On the other hand, don't reinvent the wheel
• Study with the best you can find.  Do research about what that means.
• I've found the best way to learn is to just accept what the teacher says and do it- even if it conflicts with something another teacher has told you, or that you've found to be true in your own research.
• Of course there's some threshold to this, but the point is to get as much from the teacher as possible.  Being cocky might deprive you of learning something new, finding out that something you thought was right is actually incorrect or incomplete.
  
• However, don't drink the Kool-Aid.
• It's being passed out in spades in the art world.
• Be especially aware of disciples of the teacher, who are often the biggest dealers of Kool-Aid.
• And don't think that classes with anybody will make up for time in front of the easel.
• Knowledge is cheap- you just need to come across it and then you have it.  There is no replacement for experience.
•  You can be unaware of a fact or have it wrong for years, and then come across the correct information.  Then you'll just have it (provided that a] you're willing to take the time to understand it properly, and b] you're not too proud to admit you were wrong)
• However, you can't slack off practicing, say, your brush-handling skills for years, and then suddenly read something that gets you to the level you would be at if you'd been practicing that whole time.
• Developing sensitivity
• You can't learn sensitivity from a book.
• Develop a way to test yourself so you can track your progress.
• Also, if you tried something new you can see if it helped or hindered you.
• Practice!  There's just no way around it...
• Use an old phone book instead of paper towels when possible.
• If you want certain results, you have to be willing to put in a certain amount of work and care to achieve them.
• Do you think Van Dyck's palette was a mess, or that he worked haphazardly?
• Create a situation that gives you the best chance to achieve what you're going for.
•  Checking against swatches
• When checking colors against a swatch, put a small bit of paint directly on the swatch, and make sure the paint is smooth and flat.  Highlights and bumps on the paint can distort your perception of what color the paint was.
• If your swatches are under glass, be aware that glass is usually slightly green and will also shift the value of the swatch.
• Reflections on the glass will distort  your perception of the values.  Use a black board to eliminate as much reflection as possible.
• Also be aware of the shadow casting from the paint to the surface below the glass.  This shadow can distort your perception of value.
• You can't expect perfect objectivity, but you can set up situations where you're more likely to achieve it or encounter it.
• Give yourself the best chance to be objective.
• Get your rough draft down before you start editing individual paragraphs and sentences
• You need to view each individual part relative to the whole
• When mixing strings, for example, don't start correcting individual mixtures until you've got a mixture for each step in the string.
• Asking "What did we learn in class today?" at the end of class is helpful for both students and teacher.

Budget Mahl Stick

Here's how to make a cheap hanging mahl stick that has the advantage of holding itself up when you let go.

What you'll need:

• A wire coat hanger (completely wire- no cardboard)
• Clippers capable of cutting the coat hanger wire
• A dowel rod that's 2-4 feet long, and thick enough to not bend when pressure is applied
• Duct Tape

Here's how to make it:

1. Cut the twisty part and hook off of a coat hanger.
2. Form the remaining wire into a narrow "U" shape- so one end is rounded and the other end is the two points where you cut the hook off.  
3. Tape the points to the end of a dowel rod.  The rounded end should be sticking off the end, along with about 8-10 inches of wire.
4. Cover up all of the coat hanger with the tape- both the part on the dowel and the part sticking off.
5. Fold the 8-10 inches of wire over over to make a hook.  Then end result will look like a cane.  

To use it, just hook it over the top of your painting, and it will hang there if you let go.

Photos to come soon...

Class Notes - June 16, 2010

• Painting while tired
• Don't crash your painting 
• Recognize & acknowledge that you're tired.
• Set small specific goals.  Take your time and do them right.
• A thought from Gus about painting tired-
• Come up with a series of questions to ask yourself when you're tired.  If you can't answer them, or answer slowly, think about limiting what you work on.
• "Holding the local"
• The modeling factors for each form should be assigned values such that the form as a whole reads as a form with the correct local value.
• The upshot of this is that the modeling factors take on values relative to the local color of the object.
• Thus, the shadow area for a lighter object should be lighter than the shadow area for a darker object.
• In the end, you should end up with a hierarchy of values within each modeling factor across the various forms.
• Searching for information
• An easy and very helpful place to start is the lightest and darkest spot in the painting.  Find the darkest spot, and estimate its value.  If it's not dark enough to use a value 0, then make a mental note that whatever value you choose is likely to be the lowest you will use for the painting.  Same for the lightest value- if it's not white (value 10), then a little alarm bell should go off if you ever find yourself reaching for pure white.
• After establishing the limits of your value range, use this information to make estimates about the values of other spots.
• Illusion of reflected light on cylinder with black background
• Shadow area was one flat color, but appeared to have reflected light due to simultaneous contrast.
• To make corrections on an area that is still wet, use more paint to cover it up.  If there's already a lot of paint on the area you need to correct, scrape it down with your palette knife before correcting.
• Examine how you hold your brush
• What grips are conducive to what kind of strokes
• Don't let your grip dictate what you can & can't do
• Switch up for different situations
• Modeling factors as cross-sections
• In three dimensions it's more obvious that the terminator, for example, goes all the way around the form.
• On a sphere, half of the sphere is actually in shadow, and half is in light- but we often only see a portion of the light and a portion of the shadow.
• Think of modeling factors as cross-sections- imagine cutting with a knife.
• The first time painting is like the first time on a unicycle.  You're just getting used to the physical act.

Yellowing (and Oranging!) in White Paints

Here's an interesting test put together by Jonathan Linton over at his blog Theory and Practice:

http://jonathanlintonfineart.blogspot.com/2010/05/white-test-5-years-in-making.html

While some of the results are fairly disturbing, it's interesting to note that most of the color change occurs in areas where the paint is very thick.

Moral of the story: choose your white carefully, and watch those impastos with plain, white paint!

Class Notes - June 9, 2010

• Solvents
• Main use: cleanup
• Secondary use: thinning paint
• 3 main types:
• Turpentine - traditional, but very smelly & toxic.  Frequently causes headaches.
• Turpenoid - lower odor, still toxic but slower-acting.  Can still cause headache.
• Odorless Mineral Spirits (OMS)- similar odor level & toxicity to turpenoid.  Reportedly better for use in mediums.
• No matter which type you use, always have good ventilation.  Long-term exposure is bad.
• Most schools (including this class) don't allow turpentine, only turpenoid or OMS.
• It's possible to paint without using solvents at all.  Walnut or linseed oil can be used for cleanup, and to thin paint.
•  Toxic Paints
• Lead whites (Cremnitz, Flake, & Silver White), cadmium paints, and cobalts are especially toxic.
• For some of the newer colors such as Quinacridones and Perylenes there isn't a lot of data about the long-term health hazards.  Err on the side of caution.
• The most direct route for poisonous pigments is through cuts in the skin.  Be wary of things like hangnails or dry/cracked skin that may not register in your head as a cut.
• Also be aware of eating and drinking while or after handling paints.  Always wash your hands before eating and drinking.  Be careful with your coffee cups and water bottles.
• Gloves are generally effective as long as care is taken putting them on and taking them off.
• Theoretically, unbroken skin is an effective barrier to harmful pigments.  However, there are some studies that suggest that solvents such as OMS, Turpenoid, or turpentine break down the skin's oily barrier and allow the pigments to enter.
• You have to decide your personal level of safety and comfort.
• Drawing in layers
• Start with a light color and do your initial drawing.
• To make corrections:
• Wipe out the initial drawing slightly- so the lines are still visible but almost gone.
• Take a slightly darker color and make corrections
• Repeat as necessary
• Reflections
• If it moves when your eye position moves, it's a reflection.  Don't be deceived.
• Different "directions" for handling modeling factors
• Extremes exemplified by JC Leyendecker & Igor Grabar
• JC Leyendecker - shapes modeling factors are usually very clearly delineated, or clearly delineated to begin with and then made more subtle later
• Igor Grabar - modeling factors are clearly laid in, but their exact shape is left undecided.  As the painting progresses, the shapes are honed where necessary.
• Trompe-L'oeil Painting
• Paintings created to fool the viewer into thinking it's real
• Wikipedia Entry
• Example
• More on modeling factors
• Determine the shapes that will most clearly indicate the shape of the form to the viewer- whether or not they are actually visible.  Then, amid the chaos of all the various details we do see, pick out the ones that line up with those shapes.
• The terminator
• Dividing line between light and shadow.
• If you haven't clearly indicated at least the terminator, the viewer will be lost.  Find the terminator of every form.
• Follow the terminator from the top of the form, all the way to the bottom.  Follow it all the way until it ends.  Even better- follow it all the way around the form- even the parts you can't see- so you understand what's happening with it in three dimensions.
• The shape of the other modeling factors is heavily influenced by the shape of the terminator.
• "Global" and "local" halftone
• There might be a form that is tilted in such a way that it never reaches the light modeling factor.  Still, look for a progression of values that indicates that the form is turning- it will still get darker as it approaches the terminator, though it might be subtle.  This is usually better than just leaving it one flat value outside of the shadow, since the form may appear to be more cube-like rather than rounded..  The part where it gets darker could be called its "local halftone".
• "Holding the Local"
• The values of the modeling factors should be arranged in such a way that the form appears to have a local color comparable to what it has in life.  In general, this means making each modeling factor lighter for a form with a light local color than the corresponding modeling factors on a form with a darker local.  So, the halftone on a lighter object should be lighter than the halftone on a darker halftone.  The same goes for shadow & light.
• If the local is not held, the modeling factors will appear to be stripes on the form rather than indicating the shape of the form.

Handprint's Color & Value Wheels

Here are links to the Color & Value wheels over at handprint.com.  They map out the hue, value, and chroma of various pigments in Lab/Lch color:


Color Wheel

Value Wheel
note: These are measurements of watercolor pigments, so the measurements for some colors might be different in oil paint, and some pigments might not be available in oil paints.