Newsletter June, 2005 A Free Newsletter for Those Who Love to Paint

Color of the Month

Flesh flesh

A pinkish beige color. This is one color that I recommend you DO NOT buy. You can get the same hue by mixing titanium white with burnt sienna. If you have the 'flesh' color in a tube you will use it a crutch when you begin to paint people. The trouble with using it is that everyone has a different flesh tone. Then take into consideration the light and shadow the figure is in and the colors change accordingly. I usually begin with raw and burnt sienna as well as raw and burnt umber to mix my flesh tones. I also add Manganese blue and sometimes sap green and even yellow ochre to mix the appropriate color. So don't paint any mannequins - mix the right hue for the figure in your painting.

Tool of the Month

Travel Mugs

Any cup, mug or bottle with the lid. It is easy to get carried away when you are painting. You concentrate so much on what you are doing on the canvas you don't pay much attention to where you dip your brush until you dip it into you coffee or water or whatever you have handy to drink. So a travel mug or any drink container with a top is best to use when you paint. Most paints are non toxic so a quick dip won't do anything to harm you but I don't recommend drinking anything after a paint brush has been inserted in it. So keep a lid on and keep your drink handy and safe.

Two Sets of Books

It is always a good idea to keep a history of your artwork, a record of the journey you have made over time and your paintings are the milepost of the distance you have traveled.

Yes, we all have paintings that are unfinished or ones that we want no other living creature to see or those we don't want to ever see the light of day. You know the ones that you should paint over or toss out. But before you destroy them take a photo so you can see how far you have come as you practice and improve over time.

Of course you also want to keep a record of the ones that turn out well. The paintings you show and maybe even sell or give as gifts. These you won't mind showing to others. Because we all have these two categories of paintings I suggest that you keep two sets of books - one that you share and one just for your own record.

What kind of books? Inexpensive photo albums work or so will a scrap book. Depending on your taste and your budget you can get fancy or keep it simple. Archival ones would be the best choice. If you have a digital camera you can even keep your record on digital media such as a hard drive, removable drive, CD or DVD. However at this point in time photos in a book are the easiest to share.

In your personal book keep track of the date you finished or abandoned a painting. Add any thoughts of what went well or what went wrong. Note why you chose a certain subject or where the landscape was located. Was it a flower from your garden or was it a photo in a magazine that inspired the painting? What colors did you use on your palette? What size is it? It may not seem important now but in a few years it will be interesting to be able to have these bits of info when you look back on how much you have improved and how you got there.

In your other 'public' book put photos of the paintings that you want to share. Note the title, the size and the media you use to create it as well as the completion date. If it is for sale you could also put the price. If you are serious about selling your work or showing it to galleries this is your portfolio and can be set up in a professional manner. But if you are painting mostly for fun and just want to show off your paintings then a small photo album works just fine.

Keep a record of all of your work for your own history and have a second set of photos that you show off. With two sets of books you can freely share your work without showing any of the skeletons in your studio's closets.

Reader

'Reader' by Jackie Stacharowski

'Reclining' by Jackie Stacharowski

Sample Palette

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