Just Like a Rainbow in a Box

I don't know, but I think I just might have enough colors now when I sit down to do my next sketch.  Just look how beautiful they look.  It's like a rainbow in a box and and I'm SO EXCITED!   This is the REALLY big box of Prismacolor pencil.  There are 150 to be exact and I can't wait to start using them. Just look at all those shades of gray and blue! 

Lately, I have been watching a talented color pencil artist from Australia by the name of Sheldene Visage at Sheldene Fine Art.  She has a number of excellent tutorials on YouTube and I'm learning a great deal from her.  I decided that if I was serious about the medium of color pencils then I needed to invest in the largest set they sell. I guess I'm just going to have to get busy and sell a bunch of greeting cards or a couple cowbells to cover my investment.   

To make myself familiar with all the colors available in the set I decided that I was going to make my own color reference chart to go along with my pencil set.  I used 4 inch strips of poster board separated in 1/2" sections.  Each try contains 25 pencils and so my color chart follows that same order that they were shipped.  I'm really hoping that Prismacolor wouldn't steer me wrong.  I can use the little swatches of color when trying to determine the closest shade.  I can just lay the card up to the reference photo or still life and find the right color.  

Sheldene has her color charts hole punched and on a ring so that they stay together but she can have access to each card separately.  I was even considering the possibility of having them lamented so that they are protected so they stay clean and intact.  Maybe I will do that as soon as I'm sure I have them organized correctly and that they are functional.  I may decide that I need to expand the color to include both a dark and light tone for each color.  So many decisions just to get organized.  At this point, I'm not even certain the best way to keep my pencils organized.  Maybe that is a good question to ask several experience CP artists and include their answers on a future blog post. 

Example of Color Swatches done by Sheldene

Green is a Problem

It wasn't that long after I picked up my brushes and started painting again that I realized that I was having difficulty being satisfied with the colors in my paintings.  I never seemed to obtain the vivid colors that I had desired and had envisioned.  I specifically noticed my frustration with the color green in particular in my compositions. I just felt they lacked the depth of color and usually as I kept attempting to brighten my foliage I would find that the end result was a tree completely overworked, lacking the definition that I desired. Is the problem the actual shade of green that I had purchased? I would stand in front of the paint display, looking at the different names listed. Hooker Green, Permanent green, Chromium Oxide Green, Sap green, phthalo green, and so on and so on... What was the name of this illusive green paint that I really needed on my palette?

I had the occasion last week to ask several artists about what was the green that they used most and I was shocked when I was told by my very accomplished artist friend, Lily Adamsczyk, that she never buys green, but rather she mixes yellow and paynes gray to achieve the green that she desires. I was shocked to say the least. I thought you mixed blue and yellow to make green or at least that was what I was taught in elementary school art class.

The second artist I asked named sap green as her favorite but then immediately she began clarifying the fact that because sap green is a two pigment paint that phthalo green was probably a better choice. I didn't admit this fact to her, but I was lost  back at the "two pigment part."  I realized, that just like composition rules, there is a whole science to paint colors that go far beyond the blobs of paint I squeeze on my palette when I begin preparation to start a new painting.   There is SO much to this painting stuff that I know so little about.

I must not be the only one that has issues with GREEN because in the book, "Color and Light" by James Gurney, there is a whole section dedicated to this problem called "The Green Problem." In this chapter, Mr. Gurney gives the following tips for helping with my GREEN problems.
1. Mix your greens with a variation of blues and yellows so that the color is weaker and varied.
2. Vary that color in your composition from leaf to leaf and tree to tree.
3. Add a mixture of reddish or pink gray on your palette to weave in and out of the greens. This adds depth and interest to the composition and breaks up the green. I have been following this idea for sometime as I use purple as my shadow color in the foliage. I try to steer away from the use of black and have for sometime been substituting dark purple for all my shadows.
4. Prime your canvas with pinks or reds so they show through. This will help make your greens pop on the canvas.

So upon review, I guess I need to remember that if you want your "Green" to pop, trash what you learned in elementary art class and  pull out the tube of red and while you're at it, don't forget that tube of Yellow and Paynes Gray!

Happy Painting!