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Home , Color solid, Local color (visual art)

tools of the Painters' Trade BY GAINOR ROBERTS "All colours are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites.“ Marc Chagall: •What is color •Simplified theory of color in •Eyesight influence on color perception •Pigments and paint • • vs atmospheric color •Impressionist ideas about color COLOR = LIGHT + VISION COLOR BASICS Color is the perceptual characteristic of light described by a color name. Specifically, color is light, and light is composed of many —those we see are the colors of the visual spectrum: , , , , , and . Objects absorb certain wavelengths and reflect others back to the viewer. We perceive these wavelengths as color.

DESCRIBING COLORS A color is described in three ways: by its name, how pure or desaturated it is, and its value or . Although , , and brick are all variations of the color red, each is distinct and differentiated by its chroma, saturation, intensity, and value. Chroma, intensity, saturation and luminance/value are inter-related terms and have to do with the description of a color. Chroma: How pure a hue is in relation to gray Saturation: The degree of purity of a hue. Intensity: The brightness or dullness of a hue. One may lower the intensity by adding or . Luminance / Value: A measure of the amount of light reflected from a hue. Those with a high content of white have a higher luminance or value. Shade and tint are terms that refer to a variation of a hue.

Shade: A hue produced by the addition of black. Tint: A hue produced by the addition of white. COLOR THEORIES science, poetry, philosophy A FEW OF THE MORE MODERN CONTRIBUTORS There were many color theories from the ancients to our times. Even Leonardo had his ideas about how color worked. NEWTON Newton introduced the term 'colour spectrum' and although the spectrum appears continuous, with no distinct boundaries between the colors, he chose to divide it into seven: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, , and violet. Newton chose the number seven as this reflected the Ancient Greek belief that seven is a mystical number GOETHE Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) was the greatest poet, playwright, novelist and essayist in the German language – comparable to Shakespeare and Dante. He said “That I am the only person in this century who has the right insight into the difficult science of colors, that is what I am rather proud of, and that is what gives me the feeling that I have outstripped many.” CHEVREUL In 1839, the theory of color interaction was first put on a sound experimental base by the French chemist Michel Chevreul (1786-1889). His De la Loi du Contraste Simultané des Couleurs (the law of simultaneous color contrast) introduced theories that led to new uses of color. The 19th century also witnessed the Industrial Revolution that made available new technologies such as Chevreul's synthesized pigments, augmenting the the hue circle is exemplified by 72 normal scales artist’s palette. A new scientific of tones, arranged with white at the center and worldview searched to describe black at the circumference; as shown for yellow, experience, including art, light, color and each normal scale produced 9 broken scales of vision, in scientific terms. It was tones by means of increasing proportional Chevreul’s work and ideas that are the mixtures with the achromatic gray scale located basis of our modern color theories. as the vertical axis of a hemisphere AND IT GETS EVEN MORE COMPLICATED! Albert Munsell

The system consists of three independent dimensions which can be represented cylindrically in three dimensions as an irregular : hue, measured by degrees around horizontal circles; Chroma, measured radially outward from the neutral (gray) vertical axis; and value, measured vertically from 0 (black) to 10 (white). Munsell determined the spacing of colors along these dimensions by taking measurements of human visual responses. In each dimension, Munsell colors are as close to perceptually uniform as he could make them, which makes the resulting shape quite irregular. A color is fully specified by listing the three numbers for hue, value, and chroma in that order. For instance, a of medium lightness and fairly saturated would be 5P 5/10 with 5P meaning the color in the middle of the purple hue band, 5/ meaning medium value (lightness), and a chroma of 10 (see swatch). The Munsell has been TYPICAL EXAMPLE OF A CONTROLLED arranged in a book that is quite pricey PALETTE and has page after page of swatches that the student has to match by color and value The Classical Realist method of uses the Munsell theory of color. The artist uses value “strings” of color on the palette and has a wide range of values and hues available as mixes that the artist makes before painting. Some of these energetic painters actually premix their paint and put it up in tubes with a numbering system that indicates the hue, Chroma and value of the contents. Frank Mason (1921-2009) was a painter and teacher at the Art Students League who used a shelf- Many artists and illustrators like palette arrangement for his oil used the Controlled palette paints called "The Prismatic system Palette." Graydon Parrish (born April 3, 1970) is a Frank Mason "Margaree River realist painter living in Austin, Texas. He Valley, Nova Scotia" oil on canvas, 24" x 30" (1999) is both trained in and an exponent of “Frank was inspired by, and the atelier method which emphasizes paints in the tradition of, the classical painting techniques. He old masters like Velasquez, espouses the use of a controlled palette Rubens or even Rembrandt,” and the Classical Realist movement in says longtime Mason student and Ohio-based artist Jack art today harks back to Bouguereau and Liberman. “And he has worked other 19th Century Classical painters, tirelessly to pass on that NOT the Impressionists! tradition to his own students.” Monet’s Palette Van Gogh’s Palette FOR COMPARISON… THESE ARE “OPEN” PALETTES MONET VAN GOGH DID YOU EVER WONDER WHAT THE NUMBERS MEAN? Color of Art Pigment Database An Artists’ Paint and Pigment Reference with Color Index Names, Color Index Numbers and Chemical Composition Color Index Name Code: This is the official code given by the Color Index International for that particular pigment. The first 2 letters describe the general pigment color and the number is the individual pigment identifier. N/A (not applicable) means that pigment has not been given a color index name or number. The number after further describes the exact pigment in the tube. PY = Pigment Yellow; PO = Pigment Orange; PR = Pigment Red; PV = Pigment Violet; PB = Pigment Blue; PG = Pigment Green; PBr = Pigment ; PBk = Pigment Black; PW = Pigment White; PM = Pigment Metal

This system of color designations works really well when a designer, say of a car, wants to tell the Ford Factory exactly what color to paint it, or when two classical painters converse over coffee they talk in this obscure code! Do YOU need to know all this? Probably not, but if you are an Industrial Designer you would need to know this system. LOCAL COLOR AND ATMOSPHERIC COLOR Local color refers to the language of color; a banana is yellow, a traffic light is red, the pear is yellow-green, and so on. We need to navigate our world this way, identifying colors around us to make sense out of our everyday experiences. Manufacturers and advertisers rely on local color and the way color affects our emotions.

Atmospheric Color was used by many artists, especially the Impressionists when they realized that light hitting any object would have all the spectrum of colors with it. What we see depends on what is reflected, what is absorbed and how our own eyes, retinas, rods and cones, and brains interpret those colors. The time of day will affect those colors too. Monet’s Haystack series was his experiment showing how the time of day and season changed the colors and values of not only the objects themselves but the air around them. WHAT IS PAINT? All paint is based on pigments; some are dug out of the earth, and others are made from coal tar extracts and petroleum. Pictured here are pigments before they have been mixed with their binders to form our paint. Pigments come from the earth in the form of colored clays, plants such as indigo, and mines where we get coppers, cobalts and cadmiums. Some pigments are ground up jewels, as in Lapis Lazuli and Azurite. In general, our paints are made from pigment and linseed oil, for Oil Paint, polymer resin to make Acrylics, gum tragacanth to make Pastels, and gum arabic to make Watercolors. That is a huge simplification to the subject of the chemistry of paint! But we even use egg yolks to make Egg Tempera paint! The binder acts as the glue to hold the molecules together and stick it to the support. WHAT DOES ‘HUE’ MEAN? If there ever was a confusing term! “Hue” is the name of a color like Red or Yellow or Violet

It also refers to what is in the tube of paint you buy. Cadmium Red (Hue) is not Cadmium Red. Rather it is a mix of pigments to make the paint in the tube resemble what used to be Cadmium Red. These are usually synthetic pigments with unpronounceable names like dioxazine purple, napthol red, phthalocyanine blue, and Irgazine orange although it can contain some cadmium so it is not always free of some of the more toxic pigments, but you can check those mysterious numbers on the tube to find out what has been mixed to make that color.

These paints are generally less toxic than the cadmiums and cobalts. In my lifetime I have seen a decline in the quality of genuine Cadmium Red paint and a huge increase in price due to its scarcity and uses in industry and medicine. Those tubes that are called “hue” are generally very much cheaper than the tubes that contain cadmium or cobalt. THE ELUSIVE NATURE OF VALUE

I was taught to evaluate value by creating a value scale as an underpainting on my canvas leaving the highest values open to the white of the canvas, and establishing the darkest dark. Some people will see a high key value and others a darker key, but everything is compared to each other and to the neutral background. In Impressionism color and value are not predetermined but sought after intuitively. USING COLOR IN OUR DO YOU NEED A ?

No you don’t but it is handy. I painted for years without owning one. I was taught to view colors intuitively rather than intellectually, and to view the subject and try to replicate what I saw on my palette by trial and error. We were advised to forget the “names” of colors as that is meaningless to the Impressionist painter and only helps when buying the tubes. Colors may be mixed on the palette, on the canvas or laid down optically, next to each other, or in prismatic layers. You can not paint without the primary and secondary colors on your palette! Lay them out every time you start to paint and put them in the same place each time.

Titanium White Cadmium Yellow Pale Cadmium Yellow Deep Cadmium Orange Hue Cadmium Red Light Cadmium Red Crimson Alizarin Viridian Hue Hue Hue Hue Hue

Sap Green Blue Hue Cobalt Blue Hue Ultramarine Blue Yellow Ochre Raw Sienna Paynes Gray These two rows are my basic colors that I have on my palette at all times

Cadmium Yellow Phthalo Green Naples Yellow Buff Titanium Dioxazine Purple Primary Burnt Sienna Phthalo Blue Hue The third row represents colors that I need for specific objects or colors that simply don’t mix well like purple. I need magenta too, and sometimes the really strong “Thalo” Colors. I am always experimenting with new colors but my basic palette always is the same and it becomes like a piano keyboard. Mixing colors becomes intuitive and a matter of trying a little of this and a little of that, until you have it. It is your most important tool in painting and needs to be managed with thought. How you do it is up to you but do it the same way each time. THE PALETTE It is important to have a toned palette, not white. Your eyes can not adjust to white and it is nearly impossible to judge your values accurately. The palette may be natural wood, or plywood stained , or you can even use the Richeson Grey Matters paper palette sheets. I tend to leave my colors around the edge and scrape them when they begin to skin over. Skinned over paints should not be used, as they have undergone a chemical and physical change that makes them less archival. I always clean the center area of the palette so I have a fresh mixing area. Impressionist painting often mixes paint directly on the canvas, without blending the color. The viewer’s eye will do the mixing.

My basic Palette on grey stained plywood A variety of store bought wooden palettes MY PALETTES

THIS IS MY WORKING PALETTE OF DICK BLICK STUDIO OILS see below for the colors

Left to right: Titanium white, Primary Yellow, Cadmium Yellow Hue, Cadmium Orange Hue, Cadmium Red Light, Alizarin Crimson, Sap Green, Viridian, Cerulean Blue Hue, Cobalt Blue Hue, Ultramarine, Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna, Paynes Gray the second row shows each color with white added to it. Note: The set of 24 colors is fine for most people but I had to add a few favorite colors that were available only as 38ml tubes; Cadmium Red Light Hue, Viridian, Cobalt Blue Hue, Paynes Gray. THIS IS MY WORKING PALETTE OF SOHO COLORS left to right: Naples Yellow, White, Cadmium Yellow Pale Hue, Cadmium Yellow Medium Hue, Red Orange, Cadmium Red Light Hue, Alizarin Crimson, Viridian, Sap Green, Cerulean Blue, Cobalt, Ultramarine, Yellow Ochre, Raw Sienna, Paynes Gray, (the next three are optional depending on the painting) Dioxazine Purple, Permanent , Chromium Oxide Green

Soho and Dick Blick oils are very much less expensive than other brands on the market. I use them for their price as many high brands are not in my limited budget. Most of them mix fairly well but muddiness does play a factor in paint and we often have to add colors to the palette to get a pure violet for example.

The big one! Yellow Yellow Ochre

THIS IS MY WORKING PALETTE OF DICK BLICK STUDIO OILS see below for the colors USING THE COLOR WHEEL TO DESIGN YOUR PAINTING

1. Monochromatic 2. Analogous 3. Complementary 4. Split- complementary 5. Triad COLOR SCHEMES

1. Monochromatic - one hue (color) and tints, shades and intensities of that color. Example: blue in various values as shown in the painting on the left Primary Trilogy (Blue, Red, Yellow) oil on canvas 16 x 20 2. Analogous - colors that are adjacent to each other on the color wheel. Example: yellow, yellow-green, green, blue-green, blue

Fuji Mum and Grapes oil on canvas 16 x 20 3. Complementary - colors directly opposite each other on the color wheel. Example: blue, orange and tints, shades and intensities of those colors.

Birds in Flight on Art Spectrum paper 18 x 24 4. Split-complementary - one color and the two colors on either side of it’s compliment. Example: Red, yellow-green, blue-green

Grannies oil on canvas 8 x 10 5. Triad - any three colors that are equal distance away from each other on the color wheel. Example = violet, green, orange Purple Pitcher with oranges and green drapery oil on canvas 14 x 18 NOW, LET’S PAINT! YELLOW RED BLUE

PRIMARY COLORS ORANGE GREEN VIOLET

SECONDARY COLORS TINTS

SHADES YELLOW/GREEN BLUE/GREEN BLUE/VIOLET RED/VIOLET RED/ORANGE YELLOW/ORANGE

TERTIARY COLORS YELLOW VIOLET RED GREEN ORANGE BLUE I remember these combinations by thinking Easter (yellow/purple), Christmas (red/green), July 4 (orange/blue) YELLOW VIOLET RED GREEN ORANGE BLUE

ADD WHITE ADD WHITE ADD WHITE NEUTRALIZED COMPLEMENTS You may have to add more of one or the other complements to make a nice gray THANK YOU FOR WATCHING!

HAVE A COLORFUL DAY