Tuesday, May 27, 2014

helpyoudraw: Skin Tones - Color is Relative from Muddy Colors by Donato The way we see and... [feedly]



----
helpyoudraw: Skin Tones - Color is Relative from Muddy Colors by Donato The way we see and...
// Art and Reference point

helpyoudraw:

Skin Tones - Color is Relative from Muddy Colors

by Donato

The way we see and understand all color is relative.

As a painter I determine what is warm and cool for a select color based upon, not any absolute characteristic of that color, but rather what other colors are interacting and surrounding it.  Thus no color is inherently cool or warm, its temperature evaluation is conditional upon what you surround the color with.  Admittedly, the extreme saturations of particular hues are nearly color neutral, but in the real world there are no real absolutes, opening up the play of warm and cool relationships to exploit to create volume, shadow, atmosphere and a host of other visual illusions for the artist.

Often I am asked what colors do I use for my skin tones.  Invariably I have to ask back 'under what lighting conditions, and with what 'color' flesh?'

There is no standard answer as you will see below.  Nearly any color can be used for skin tones, it all depends upon what you surround the figure with!

imageSearch for Mother    oil on panel   48" x 36"
Here we have the apparent cool, near death skin tones of a mermaid breathless on the beach.  Her cool tones in striking contrast to the warmth of the light and pinkness of the two humans running past.  The orange and yellow tones of the rocks, light and seaweed offer a contrasting hue base from the blues and purples of her skin, making it appear very cool and cold.

But with a simple change of background, say making this into a portrait of a woman silhouetted against a blue sky, my choices of color with which I painted these cool skin tones in a near lifeless body take on a fair warm feeling in the context of a bright and blue saturated background.  The pinks on the face become more dominant with any tones bordering the neutral hues now appearing to read as 'warm' relative to the cooler background.

Note also how the lighter background in blue has also caused our perception of how 'bright' the face is to change as well…color is not only about relative temperature, but also about value as well!

I have made no adjustments to her face, it is purely a trick your eyes are playing on you.

image

So the next time you are hesitating with painting a portrait, unsure of how to proceed.  Just mix up a pool of diverse color and dive in.  Those first marks on the image will never be wrong, as long as you thoughtfully place and develop what goes next to it!

 "I can paint you the skin of Venus with mud, provided you let me surround it as I will." 
- Eugene Delacroix

----

Shared via my feedly reader


Sent from my iPad

Monday, May 26, 2014

Yvan Duque [feedly]



----
Yvan Duque
// lines and colors

Yvan Duque
Yvan Duque is a French illustrator, about whom I can find little information, other than a relation to a studio or group known as L'Encre Blanch (White Ink).

Duque has a web presence in the form of a Tumblog, a presence on the L'Encre Blanch Behance gallery and a store on Etsy.

The work, which appears to be done in water media like gouache or watercolor, has a wonderfully graphic sensibility, and utilizes both strong and subtle value contrasts simultaneously. I particularly enjoy Duque's texturally stylized tree trunks and bark.

Duque's work is currently on display in California, as part of the Gallery Nucleus exhibition, Adventure Awaits: Destinations Real & Imagined, that runs until June 15, 2014.


----

Shared via my feedly reader


Sent from my iPad

Artist Of The Day - Rik Catlow [feedly]



Sent from my iPad

The Battle of Hampton Roads [feedly]



----
The Battle of Hampton Roads
// Gurney Journey


In recognition of this day for remembering people who died in war, I offer my painting "Sinking of the Cumberland" from the American Civil War. 

I painted the image for National Geographic after reading many first hand accounts of the Battle of Hampton Roads, studying ship plans, and sketching artifacts remaining from the event. 


The original painting currently hangs at the Mariners' Museum in Newport News, Virginia, where it's on long-term loan.

Read about the making of the painting at the previous post Sinking of the Cumberland


----

Shared via my feedly reader


Sent from my iPad

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Oil Painting Lessons From John Singer Sargent [feedly]



----
Oil Painting Lessons From John Singer Sargent
// Artist Daily

La Carmencita by John Singer Sargent, oil painting, 1890.
La Carmencita by John Singer Sargent,
oil painting, 1890.
I try and shy away from describing art in bombastic terms. It can become a slippery slope of flowery language with no real takeaways. But when I'm studying the works of no less than John Singer Sargent, phrases like tour-de-force and mind-boggling just sort of slip out. I think that's to be expected considering how deftly and powerfully he turns oil on canvas into art.

One of the primary oil painting techniques Sargent utilized that I find most intriguing is that every stroke attempts to describe the essences of an object. The texture of fur, the sheen of silk, the intricate knots in lace, the pattern of sunlight on water, a rosy-colored cheek—Sargent attempted to embody all of these in every stroke. He wasn't trying to add a bunch of strokes together and hopefully get the shimmy and swirl of the fringe on the dancer's body in La Carmencita, for example. The paint strokes are shimmies and swirls.

Richard Morris Hunt by John Singer Sargent, oil painting, 1895.
Richard Morris Hunt by John
Singer Sargent, oil painting, 1895.
Mabel Marquand by John Singer Sargent, oil painting, c.1891.
Mabel Marquand by John Singer
Sargent, oil painting, c.1891.
That's not to say that every stroke Sargent put down was perfect the first time. As a friend reminded me recently, Sargent painted and scraped and painted and scraped ad nauseam. But he got there! Sargent also came from a point of view that form is never flat. Even a marble walkway as in Richard Morris Hunt or the open air behind a portrait sitter, is enlivened with color and texture that is visually interesting but never overpowering.

And Sargent didn't just paint anything. He painted exceptional moments. That's not to say he scorned the everyday, but he chose his compositions thoughtfully and well. Even a simple portrait of a woman, a child, or a group delivers impact because Sargent pushed to articulate something noteworthy that makes a viewer linger, as in the position of the two figures in the portrait of Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Phelps Stokes or the hand gesture and askance look in Mabel Marquand.

Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Phelps Stokes by John Singer Sargent, oil painting, 1897.
Mr. and Mrs. I. N. Phelps
Stokes
by John Singer
Sargent, oil painting, 1897.
The oil painting lessons that Sargent teaches me—just by looking at the works—are incredibly rewarding and enriching, but it is also valuable to have an expert perspective as well. This is where The Artist's Magazine comes in. The authors, artists, and experts who fill the pages of the magazine really make a difference in how I understand the depth of artistic practice of masters past and present, and the great images and updates on what is going on in the art world keep my sights steadily on bettering my skills and savoring the journey. The June issue of The Artist's Magazine is available now. Enjoy!

 

 


----

Shared via my feedly reader


Sent from my iPad

Saturday, May 17, 2014

Trailers for Mr. Turner [feedly]



----
Trailers for Mr. Turner
// lines and colors

Mr. Turner, JMW Turner biopic
Mr. Turner is an upcoming film — recently debuted at Cannes, and set for release in the fall of 2014 — based on the last 25 years in the life of the renowned British "painter of light", JMW Turner.

The film is directed by Mike Leigh, who has apparently wanted to do a film on Turner for some time, and stars Timothy Spall as the eccentric (and not necessarily likable) artist.

Rather than a historical novelization, or a story spun off from characters in a painting, this appears to be a genuine biopic — and by initial accounts, a very good one at that.

There is an official trailer, as well as a clip from a sequence in which Turner visits the preparations for the Royal Academy exhibition. The latter, I think, is even more interesting than the official trailer. I love the recreation of the Exhibition Room at Somerset House (of which you can see Thomas Rowlandson's drawing here).

The screen captures above are from both the trailer and the clip. The painting to which Turner applies a daring touch of red at the last minute (as you can read here) is Helvoetsluys; – the City of Utrecht, 64, Going to Sea, currently in the collection of the Tokyo Fuji Art Museum. (I've added an image of the painting from the Tate page at the bottom; it's not a frame from the film.)

Evidentially, the director has attempted to recreate several of the scenes that inspired some of Turner's famous paintings, including The Fighting Temeraire (above, frames two and three).

Looking forward to this one.

[Via The Guardian]


----

Shared via my feedly reader


Sent from my iPad

Friday, May 9, 2014

California Watercolors [feedly]

  

----
California Watercolors
// Gustaf Tenggren

From his first years as an illustrator, watercolours had been the major painting method for Gustaf Tenggren . All the artists he admired had worked in the same media: Carl Larsson, John Bauer, Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac, to mention a few. He and was a member of the American Watercolor Society along with many of his colleagues within commercial art, and as them, he had learned to master the technique to perfection. The paintings were very accurate and meticulously rendered down to the tiniest detail.

Laguna Beach 1936
Collection of the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
But after his arrival in Los Angeles in early spring 1936, he seems to have become aware of an alternate, looser and more vivid watercolor style. He started to make free-air painting excursions in the neighbourhoods; Hollywood and Wilmington, Laguna Beach and even to Catalina Island. Walt Disney himself bought a Catalina landscape from Tenggren in 1938.
Gustaf Tenggren painting at Catalina Island 1937
Catalina Landscape 1936
The California Watercolor Society was very influential, including members as Mary Blair and Lee Blair. Gustaf Tenggren and Mary Blair never met while working at Disney's Studio; Mary Blair started in April 1940 while Tenggren left the studio in January 1939. But it's likely that Tenggren saw the works of Mary and Lee Blair at the California Watercolor Society's yearly exhibition. In fall 1939, Tenggren exhibited paintings at The Los Angeles County Fair Art exhibition where also Lee Blair had paintings, so a good guess is that they knew each other.

Hollywood 1937
Collection of the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
In the same way that the climate made both Gustaf and Mollie Tenggren more happy and relaxed, it helped o vitalize Tenggren's imagery and added yet a style to his visual toolbox. It might also have helped to loosen up his painting all over; a change of style is clearly visible in his post-Disney works.
Hollywood 1937
Collection of the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Wilmington 1937
Collection of the Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis.
Wilmington 1937

----

Shared via my feedly reader


Sent from my iPad

Painting During the Golden Hour [feedly]

  

----
Painting During the Golden Hour
// Artist's Network

It's no secret that Brian Keeler's landscape paintings are filled with stunning light. The sunsets in his work are quiet, and take us to a time and place where drivers wave to each other on the backroads, and folks sit on their front porches with glasses of sun tea as they watch the clouds go by. I identify with Keeler's rural scenes in particular, and it's my pleasure to bring you his thoughts on and process for painting during the spectacular time of day known as the "golden hour," when light is at its best.

landscape painting by Brian Keeler

Cayuga Moon, Sheldrake Point, NY (oil on linen, 30×36) by Brian Keeler

"Painting the landscape, figure or portrait with dramatic light effects has a long and distinguished lineage of artists that we can look to for inspiration," he says. "The 17th century Baroque artists who portrayed the figure as their main theme is probably the best place to look for this artistic heritage, with painters like Caravaggio, Rembrandt, DeLatour, Velazquez, and others. With the landscape painters it came a little later with painters such as Turner, Lorrain, and Constable. But our plein air proto-impressionist painter is Corot who trail-blazed in the Italian and French countrysides in the early 19th century, painting directly from the motif. The tradition of painting light in the landscape came to certain apogee in the last part of the 19th century with the impressionist painters and one of my favorites, John Singer Sargent.

"In my own work, I like to paint during these hours of high drama at the end of the day or sometime early in the morning. During these times of day, the raking light of the sun brings out the forms, chromo, and heightening essential aspects of the landscape. The quality of light gives us a good boost of juice to seize the moment and express what we see on our canvases. Whether we're looking directly toward a sunset, at the effects of late afternoon sunlight (observing the play of light as it courses over and around forms), or watching the cast shadows that reveal the topography, we avail ourselves of the inherent drama of atmosphere at its most sublime and dramatic. When skyscapes and clouds enter into our consideration they add another entire element to our expressive possibilities.

Over Watkins landscape painting by Brian Keeler

Over Watkins Glen, NY (oil on linen, 26×30) by Brian Keeler

"When I paint at these times, being direct and marshaling my skills to compose, draw, articulate, and express the beauty of the landscape is at once very challenging and rewarding. I often do quick sketches ahead of time. The purpose of these sketches isn't to show detail, but to arrive at an initial statement of the division of space and intervals, and determine the main actors in these 'operas.' I start the canvas in the same way as the thumbnail sketches, which is to quickly lay in the main divisions and articulate objects with a short hand of strokes to indicate strategically placed reference points. I try to get a more or less complete statement in one sitting, whether it be an hour or three or four. I usually spend time with them back in the studio, tuning them up and bringing them to resolution, which may take several days." ~Brian Keeler

I'd like to thank Keeler for taking the time to share this with us, and encourage you to watch this preview of his instructional video,"Oil Painting Techniques: Brilliant Light" (above). Even better–North Light Shop is featuring an exclusive collection on painting the landscape in oil with Brian Keeler. The deluxe kit includes three DVDs, the book Dramatic Color in the Landscape, a color wheel, and a New Wave Palette.

Now that spring is here, I hope you find many mornings and evenings to enjoy the golden hour yourself, be it with a canvas and paint, or simply sitting outside with a glass of tea.

Until next time,
Cherie

Cherie Haas, online editor**Free download: Oil Painting Tips for Beginners: Learn How to Oil Paint!
**Click here to subscribe to the Artists Network newsletter for inspiration, instruction, and more!

 

 


----

Shared via my feedly reader


Sent from my iPad

Black Is the New Green [feedly]

  

----
Black Is the New Green
// The Oil Painting Blog

Now that traditional representational painting is seeing something of a revival in art galleries, there is a lot of interest among painters in the techniques employed by masters of the oil painting medium. All of us learn from those who have preceded us, and there are so many great painters from which to glean vital knowledge. In particular, there is intense interest in the work of John Singer Sargent, and to fully understand his craft, one must examine the teachings of his mentor, Emile Auguste Carolus-Duran.

Carolus Duran by Sargent, oil portrait painting.
Carolus-Duran by Sargent, oil portrait painting.
During his life, Carolus-Duran had established himself as a master of genre and portrait painting, whose naturalistic painting techniques derived from his studies of past Masters, most notably, Velazquez. By studying and copying works by Velazquez in museums, Carolus-Duran was able to understand and incorporate Velazquez's techniques into his own painting style. That painting style not only won him awards and fame, but was also considered unconventional, even avant-garde by the academic standards of the day. At that time, the accepted academic method promoted a system by which a painting is progressively built up, beginning with a highly finished drawing which is then colored by successive layers of thin glazes.

In contrast, Carolus-Duran taught his students how to make an initial charcoal indication of the model, and then immediately begin laying in the values with a large brush in planes of thick paint exactly the proper color. Mid-values were applied first, followed by halftones, shadows and highlights. If the student got off track, the surface was either scraped out or scumbled together and a fresh start would be made. This would occur as many times as necessary to obtain the desired effect. He insisted on studying from life and painting accurately and economically what nature reveals. This extremely challenging method was a revolutionary approach to teaching painting at the time, and not every painting student was open to it.

Still, Carolus-Duran's reputation attracted talented students from Britain and the U.S., who wanted to learn his direct-painting techniques. By 1885-86 nearly half of the fifty students were Americans, among them John S. Sargent, Carroll Beckwith, Theodore Robinson, Will H. Low, Kenyon Cox, and many other artists of note. Sargent was one of the most talented and capable of those students and soon became a favorite of Carolus-Duran, who honored him by sitting for the now-famous portrait.

Carolus-Duran also insisted on the use of a limited palette of colors: black, verte emeraude, raw umber, cobalt, laque ordinaire, brun rouge, yellow ochre and white, laid out from left to right. To facilitate the choice of tones, he mixed two or three gradations of brun rouge with white, two of cobalt with white, two of black and white and two of raw umber, also with white. In particular, Carolus-Duran knew the Old Master's technique of mixing beautiful, rich greens from black and yellow ochre.  In our Members article, Secrets of the Old Masters: Mixing Beautiful Greens from Black, we show you how to get those subtle greens in your portrait and landscape work.

--John and Ann

Please join us on The Artist's Road for more great how-to articles, artist interviews and unique artist tools.


----

Shared via my feedly reader


Sent from my iPad

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

271 Years Before Pantone, an Artist Mixed and Described Every Color Imaginable in an 800-Page Book [feedly]

  

----
271 Years Before Pantone, an Artist Mixed and Described Every Color Imaginable in an 800-Page Book
// Colossal

271 Years Before Pantone, an Artist Mixed and Described Every Color Imaginable in an 800 Page Book watercolor history color books

271 Years Before Pantone, an Artist Mixed and Described Every Color Imaginable in an 800 Page Book watercolor history color books

271 Years Before Pantone, an Artist Mixed and Described Every Color Imaginable in an 800 Page Book watercolor history color books

271 Years Before Pantone, an Artist Mixed and Described Every Color Imaginable in an 800 Page Book watercolor history color books

271 Years Before Pantone, an Artist Mixed and Described Every Color Imaginable in an 800 Page Book watercolor history color books

271 Years Before Pantone, an Artist Mixed and Described Every Color Imaginable in an 800 Page Book watercolor history color books

In 1692 an artist known only as "A. Boogert" sat down to write a book in Dutch about mixing watercolors. Not only would he begin the book with a bit about the use of color in painting, but would go on to explain how to create certain hues and change the tone by adding one, two, or three parts of water. The premise sounds simple enough, but the final product is almost unfathomable in its detail and scope.

Spanning nearly 800 completely handwritten (and painted) pages, Traité des couleurs servant à la peinture à l'eau, was probably the most comprehensive guide to paint and color of its time. According to Medieval book historian Erik Kwakkel who translated part of the introduction, the color book was intended as an educational guide. The irony being there was only a single copy that was probably seen by very few eyes.

It's hard not to compare the hundreds of pages of color to its contemporary equivalent, the Pantone Color Guide, which wouldn't be published for the first time until 1963.

The entire book is viewable in high resolution here, and you can read a description of it here (it appears E-Corpus might have crashed for the moment). The book is currently kept at the Bibliothèque Méjanes in Aix-en-Provence, France. (via Erik Kwakkel)


----

Shared via my feedly reader


Sent from my iPad