Sometimes Life is Pretty Black and White

but I have a tendency to use both colors way too much when it comes to painting.  I have been trying to learn more about color and so I'm really studying the book titled "Color Harmony" by Margaret Kessler.  Ms. Kessler addresses the use of white and black on page 15 where is says that, "If you lighten a color, you reduce its intensity. But, if you do this with tubed white (a cool color) without modifying it with hints of warm color, the result looks chalky" and regarding the use of black or paynes gray to darken a color, Ms Kessler cautions that the result may look boring or unnatural.

Now I do know this and yet this head knowledge sometimes escapes me when I'm in the "Zone" and I'm thoughtlessly dipping my brush too often in both the white and paynes gray.  Repeat after me....Highlights from the sunlight are not really white and shadows cast are not really black or paynes gray.  That is just my lack of understanding of color and letting my preconceived idea of how things appear rather than real observations.

A good example is that of a recent painting I did that I'm calling "Feisty Fowls".  I took the piece to my painting lesson with my friend Lily Adamczyk for a critique and as usual there were a number of corrections that needed to be made and just like homework I took the time to make the suggested changes.

Here is the BEFORE:



Corrections made:
  1.  removed the darkness from their faces. I had used paynes gray...BAD! BAD! BAD! I used burnt sienna and dioxadine purple mixed with the red to give the darker tones to their faces
2.  removed the white...BAD! BAD! BAD! on the edges of the combs and used orange as the highlight instead
3.  brightened the grass with a glazing of thinned yellow green
4.  removed the intersection of the background hills that put the second rooster in the cross hares or bulls-eye.
5.  brightened the stones and squared them up to give them more of the appearance of a stacked stone wall

AFTER:

Like a Mad Scientist...Experimenting With Color

Yesterday, I started blogging about a book I was reading written by Margaret Kessler titled "Color Harmony".  I didn't make it off page 15 because there was such good information that I need to spend time  soaking it all in.  I underlined a statement under the subtitle -Increasing Intensity.  Kessler states, "To brighten a dull or tinted color, add a warm color to the mixture."  This is a bit more complicated than that because we all leaned in elementary art class that  if you add primary colors together we get a neutral color.  Not what we want here so she warns that it is important that we understand the proportions of primary color that each color contains.  The natural thought is if you want to brighten a color that you would add white and to darken you would add black.  This isn't  always a correct assumption.  Adding white to a color will often cause the color to be washed out and to look chalky. I will sometimes counteract that by adding some Naples Yellow to the color so that I don't loose the brightness.

 Adding black does darken but can look unnatural according to Kessler.  Payne's gray can darken a color but can also make the color seem boring.  I've decided to remind myself of this fact by only putting the smallest amount of Payne's gray on my palette when I lay out my colors because my natural instinct is to dip my brush in that color when it would be better for me to use dioxidine purple or ultramarine blue for my shadow colors.

Adding the complement of the color can mute and darken the color.  Adding a warm color can brighten or intensify the color. There is a great deal of information shared just on this one page and I know that it is time to pretend that I'm a mad scientist and cook up some color experiments of my own.  I think I just might take a large canvas and just section it off and do a color study this weekend.  Maybe I will just come out with some "Popping" creations and learn something in the process!

Here is my son, Dr. Jared Townsend-a for real scientist

Here Jared is conducting an experiment but I don't think he looks too mad.

Make Your Colors POP

"The road to color harmony begins with understanding the characteristics and properties of the colors on your palette-how to mix and match them so that they work for you.  You must appreciate the full potential of every color and the effect each color has on another." Margaret Kessler

I've had the book called "Color Harmony in Your Paintings" by Margaret Kessler for sometime and I know that when I first received it I flipped through the pages but up to this point I haven't really studied it.  Today I am reading through it's pages and am anticipating the information that I am going to glean from within it's covers.

I find myself underlining several great points on page 15 that deal with the topic of Intensity.  Kessler says, "The key to making your paintings 'pop' is to juxtapose bright hues against dull ones."  I think that I'm going to write this down on a note card and post it on my easel because even though during my painting lessons this has been discussed, I find that in the heat of painting these important foundational points can be neglected.  You really want an object to "POP" you need to paint the lighter values next to a darker color.  Leaves in a tree are a great example.  As you increasingly lighten the value of your leaf color you want to position the brightest leaves in areas that are surrounded by darkness.  I did this in my painting "Fallen" and the birch saplings seem to almost jump off the canvas. Lily also had me place light colors for rocks in the shadows and dark colors for the rocks in the sunlit areas.

Painting completed during my painting lessons with teacher Lily Adamczyk

Last Leaf

This concept again was used in my painting Last Leaf.  The darkness of the pine needles cause the light gold tones in the leaf to just pop off the canvas. 

 

Something to Think About

As I was studying the book called "Painting Better Landscapes" by Margaret Kessler, I found on page 24 a gem amongst the technical advice.  Even while you are still visualizing and planning your piece you need to consider the WHY of the painting.  Why are you painting this scene and what mood are you trying to convey.  She says, and I quote, "With in the limits of convention, paint the ordinary in an extraordinary way.  Don't just decorate: dramatize.  Exaggerate motion and color; vary the value range and textural quality.  By emphasizing or downplaying objects, manipulate the scene to engage the viewer psychologically."

There is freedom in this statement and as an artist I appreciate that I have artistic license to add or remove certain elements to improve my composition.  Of course I didn't need to read this in a book to know that as the artist the only boundaries that I have are those invisible ones that I myself have created in my mind.  Breaking those chains and tearing down the cobwebs that years of non-creativeness have left isn't always and easy task.  I struggle in my compositions with using colors and painting the randomness of nature.  I can stand back to observe my piece and realize after hours of work that I have once again painted my bushes to have a manicured symmetry and all lined up like little soldiers at attention and all my rocks are smooth round river rocks.

This is exactly why visualizing and planning are SO important.  I must see this painting completed in my mind before I ever start laying out my palette.  Sketching my idea out will  help me steer away from these composition traps and I am ready to begin.  So here is my inspirational photo and I will blog my steps as I work through the teachings outline in this book by Ms. Kessler.

This old homestead photo that we took while on our Missouri vacation is very near to where both my great-grandparents lived.  I recall both of their houses on the main dirt road that parallels the highway 133 between Crocker and Richland.  My mother was born in a house probably very much like this one there in Swedeborg.  I attended the little country school there for both 1st and 3rd grade.  It is this exact feeling that I want to evoke with this painting.  I want to stir up feelings that include memories of a vibrant house that is full of laughter and that now stands in decay because of neglect and misuse.  The memories are still very sweet because they are bigger than the outer shell made of lumber and penny nails.

Old House Ruins located in Swedeborg, Missouri

Ivy covered log located in what is left of the yard of the old house

Quick sketch made of house and log that I will use as my plan.  I am considering adding a old water pump too.

Memories of the Road Home- 16 x 20 Acrylic. This is the final rendition and I am pleased with the end results.  I wanted to inspire self-reflection as one looks back into the past.  I used several photos we took as we visited Swedeborg, Missouri on vacation this summer. This town is where my Grandmother and Grandfather lived, my mom was born and two sets of Great-grandparents lived. My roots are deep in this little town of about 250. When you spend time painting a scene like this you do a great deal of remembering about childhood, growing old, family and those that have gone before you.

In memory of:  Franklin Vail & Claudine Butler Miller (Mauer) 
                          Harry & Hazel (Morris) Miller
                          Clara May (Freeman) McKim 

Making a Plan

I've started reading a book called "Painting Better Landscapes" by Margaret Kessler and right off I knew I was in trouble.  The book begins as soon as page 14 talking about a plan...You are supposed to have a VALUE PLAN.  Ms. Kessler states," Planning the values in your sketchbook is probably the most neglected aspect of the painting process.  I cannot overemphasize its importance."  I guess that says it pretty clearly.


Sketching out my plan with pencil or charcoal is something I have never done up to this point.  I just start a new piece by covering the canvas with paint and then painting, excuse me for using the old saying, "by the seat of my pants".  I was keenly aware that on my first painting lesson, that while we didn't grab a pencil, my teacher, Lily Adamczyk had me block out all the main areas of my painting using a neutral colored paint.  She quickly planned which trees we wanted to emphasize and which ones were in the wrong place in my photo. When I actually started painting, I had a plan.  Of course it was Lily's plan because at this point, I'm still very much lost in the transition between using acrylic to oil and trying to understand Lily's approach and techniques.  Let me show you what I mean...

Here is what my masterpiece looked like at the end of my first two hour lesson.

The Initial Plan

Blocking out the colors of the background and the foreground

Working from Top to Bottom, Back to front

  Ms. Kessler lists on page 8 of her book the five progressive steps to construct a painting:

1. Visualize the idea
2. Composing the idea (blueprint)
3. Establishing the values (foundation)
4. Blocking the color harmony (framework)
5. Refind the details (finishing)

On the same page, Ms. Kessler also addresses the importance of developing your own style by stating a very simple but powerful truth.  "As long as you are following someone else's lead, you will always be behind."

So today, I'm digging out those very neglected sketching pencils, overused kneadable eraser and grabbing one of the many empty sketchbooks that are in my studio so that I can begin to discipline myself to MAKE A PLAN first, before I ever grab a canvas or pick up a brush.