Newsletter September, 2003

Color of the Month

Ultramarine Blue - This is a deep rich cool blue. It is a work horse on my palette although I seldom use it directly from the tube. The exact hue will vary among different manufacturers, but they are all similar with similar properties. Add a little to white for a summer sky. Add alizarin crimson for a wonderful purple. Add a little to chromium oxide for a deeper green. Add some to burnt sienna for a wonderful cool brown. The possibilities are endless. Added to most colors it will create a cooler, deeper hue. Even adding it to other blues will give you a richer selection of colors for skies and water. If you have never used it, give it a try. If you have used it just as a blue - add it other colors to expand and enrich your choices.

Tool of the Month

Erasers - duh! You know you can erase with them. However, they also make good stamps. The ones on the end of pencils make nice small circles (great for life size nail heads on that fence post). You can put paint onto the eraser before stamping the canvas, or you can put the eraser down into the wet paint and twist it to give the shape and texture. If you use a stand alone eraser you can trim it to the shape you need! The only problem is that the will no longer erase very well. The paint can be cleaned off with a good wipe or a few strokes of very fine sandpaper, but keep it just to use as a stamp.

Mixing Things Up

Mixing colors is an art unto itself. There are many books written on the subject. What I would like to suggest is not what you mix but how you mix your paints.

Your palette is a matter of personal style. Some people like to hold theirs, others keep theirs on a table. Some artist use palettes make of wood, some glass, some plastic, some paper. The least expensive, good basic palette is wax or freezer paper taped to a piece of cardboard - or even directly to the table. Some palettes are rectangular, some oval, some elongated...

What is more important than the composition or shape of your palette is the size. Make sure you have enough room to have your paints on it as well as enough room for a generous mixing area.

Ideally, you would have puddle of each of your paints fresh out of the tube arranged around the edge of your palette, always placing each color in the same position. This is great if you will be painting all day. Most people do not have that luxury. Like the commercial says, I don't live anywhere near Perfect, so I do have a slightly different approach.

I do always try to place my colors in the same position on my palette. This makes it easy to pick up the exact color you want without thinking too much (always a plus). But I usually only put out the colors I plan to use during that painting session. The other colors I have out, with the tops off, in the right order near my palette, so if I want one, it is very easy to add some to my palette.

When I put a color out to use or mix one, I almost always also mix a lighter and darker value at the same time. Mostly this is done by adding some white and some black or by adding white and more white... Having the three values already ready makes it easy to pick up and go without having to stop and think too hard.

When you are mixing, don't mix the paints too well. Leave it a little marbleized. Having a slight variation whenever you put some on your canvas helps your work appear more painterly.

Clean your mixing area often, scraping it with a palette knife. Don't skimp on your mixing area, give yourself enough room to work comfortably. It isn't fun if you paint yourself into a corner!

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