Newsletter July, 2003

Color of the Month

Chromium Oxide. A funny name but a wonderful shade of green. It is a cool green and most brands are opaque. It usually has a better permanence rating than sap green (which can fade pretty quick). To warm it up you can add yellow ochre for a very natural looking green or cadmium yellow which will perk it up to be close to sap green. Added to ultramarine or other blues, it makes a good east coast ocean color. Add a little to your red or crimson and it cools it off just a bit for a rich red. Play with it - mix some into all of your colors to see what results you get. You just might find that you have a new favorite green on your palette.

Tool of the Month

A Cardboard Handle. Don't know how to carry a wet canvas? Here's a way. From a strong piece of cardboard cut out a U shaped handle. Make sure it fits your hand. Strongly staple the two ends to the wood stretcher on the back of your canvas, allowing the opening to stick out beyond the canvas. Personally, I put it on the short side - but take your pick. Suddenly, you have an easy way to carry a wet caves. Plus it is a way to hang up a wet canvas on a peg, a hook... to keep it out of the way. When the painting is done, remove all of the staples and your handle, and you are all set. This will not work on canvas board or gesso board - the staples will come through to the front. If you plan to carry it to many classes, make sure you have strong enough cardboard. If it should tear, you can replace it - but very carefully if the painting is wet.

Many Shades of Gray

As philosophers tell us, there are many shades of gray. Gray has gotten a bad rap in some circles. The worse thing to do with gray is to use it as a default shadow color, hence the bad rap. Shadows are not gray - they have color in them as well. Shadows are usually a darker value and cooler color than the area around them.

If something is casting a shadow on a surface, that shadow is usually a darker version of the color of the surface. A fence casting shadow on green grass will cause that area of grass to be a darker, cooler green. You can create this darker green by adding the right value of gray into the green already being used. If a chair is casting a shadow onto a red rug, there is an area of darker red. The best way to get this darker shade is by adding brown (such as raw umber) to your red, gray may dull it too much. A gray sidewalk will have gray shadows but the 'light' areas should be a warm gray and the shadow areas should be a cool gray - not just a deeper value of the base gray.

There are many wonder shades of gray out there. There are warm grays and cool grays, greenish grays and pinkish grays, bluish grays and yellowish grays, dark grays and light grays. Grays can be very rich and interesting. The key is add another color to your basic gray. Choose a color already in your painting to keep it related.

You can sometimes mix grays by combining two complementary colors. Dioxazoene purple and yellow ochre make a nice gray. However, phthalo green and cadmium red make a nice brown, so there is no one formula. Play with your colors with a color wheel and see what you get. You may make more than mud - you may just get a wonderful gray.

Grays can add life to your painting by helping you create your center of interest. Your focal point should have the richest colors and brightest hues. By adding grays to the other areas of your painting, you can achieve this easier.

Gray is a wonderful tool, see how many ways you can find to use it to your advantage!

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