Planning a Painting - The Value Study
Jul 25, 2010 Painting
So, you have a great idea for a painting. You’ve done some thumbnail sketches and created an interesting, dynamic composition. You know exactly what you want to paint…
Time to jump in? Not quite!
Before you dive into the real thing, it can be extremely helpful to do a value study: a smaller, monochromatic version of your painting.
A value study strips your painting of all colour, letting you work with the lights and darks, which is just as important to your composition as form. This is also your chance to make sure you have a range of lights and darks to create good contrast. If your painting isn’t interesting at this stage, it won’t be interesting when you add colour! Stan Prokopenko does a great job of explaining how a value study can help you create an interesting composition.
Also check out this post where Stapleton Kearns critiques a painting where the artist has confused colour with value. According to Kearns, “Value is more important than color, as it is a part of drawing. Color is a decoration you hang on your drawing.”
If we digitally altered the painting on Kearns’ blog to make it greyscale, we would see a very dark, very flat painting. That’s a hint!
Doing a value study can help you solve these problems before you get to them in your final painting. It’s easier to match the value (not the intensity) of your colour to the study than it is to figure it out on the fly. The intensity of the hue can be very distracting.
When I did my African Sunset painting, I knew that getting the values right was going to be essential in making the sun look like it was shining. Doing a quick value study (above) helped me see just how dark the sky needed to be to make the sun look bright in contrast. This kept me from wasting time and paint on painting a too-light sky. Below is the completed painting converted to greyscale.
If you’re having troubles with the values within a painting, taking a digital picture and converting it to greyscale can really help. This lets you see the lights and darks without that distracting colour. A bright or intense colour doesn’t always make for a dark value. Solve these problems in a value study and you will have a much easier time with your painting!
Tags: acrylic painting, oil painting, paintings, value study
You Have Your Paints… What do You Paint On?
Jun 13, 2010 Painting
Although paper can be used as a painting surface, canvas is the most common choice. Fortunately, there are many choices when it comes to canvas, one to suit every artist’s level and budget.
1. Canvas Paper
This is a synthetic imitation of real canvas. The paper has more of a plastic-like sheen than a feeling of fabric, but it does have the texture of woven fibres. Canvas paper is available in pads, and is great for artists new to painting and for those looking for an inexpensive surface for studies and sketches. It’s also very easy to frame.
2. Canvas Board
This is a gesso-ed piece of canvas stretched over cardboard. You can buy these or make them yourself. This is another good option for beginning painters, but they can be tricky to hang.
3. Pre-stretched Canvas
Personally, this is my favorite. These can be bought from any art-supply store in a variety of sizes, dimensions and depths.
Painting on a stretched canvas is completely unlike painting on any kind of paper or board. As one of my instructors once said, the canvas paints back. The stretched fabric has a give that can take some getting used to.
When buying pre-stretched canvas, make sure you get the ones with the staples on the back, not on the sides. Also, double check for any dents in the stretcher bars.
4. Stretching Your Own Canvas
This allows you to customize the size and dimension of your canvas to your exact specifications. It also allows you more control over the tension of the canvas. Many artists prefer using their own stretched canvas for these reasons.
There are two ways you can make your own canvas: you can buy pre-made stretcher bars, which you assemble and then stretch the canvas over, or you can build your own canvas stretcher bars.
It’s important to note that there is a definite hierarchy when it comes to these four options. Most “professional” artists will tell you that an artist should make their own stretchers. This isn’t always practical, or possible, though. If you are selling your work, or trying to get into a gallery, I would recommend that you work on stretched canvas even if they are pre-stretched. If you approach a gallery with works on canvas board, you may get sneered at!
Tags: acrylic painting, canvas, oil painting, paintings
Cleaning Paint Brushes - Do as I Say, Not as I Do!
May 5, 2010 Painting
Cleaning paint brushes is one of those things I don’t quite feel qualified to speak on. Not because I don’t know how, but because I don’t do it!
I know it’s bad, bad, bad, but I don’t take the greatest care of my brushes. Then again, I don’t spend a huge amount on them. With the type of painting I do (experimental painting on board) my brushes get chewed up pretty fast. It’s not worth investing much money in them.
That being said, I do have a few good brushes set aside for fine work, and I try my best to look after those!
Even though I don’t set the best example, cleaning your brushes properly is an important part of painting. Paint brushes can get super-expensive and as an artist, it’s in your best interest to take care your tools. Learn from my mistakes!
Brush Cleaning Tips
Here are a few basic brush cleaning tips I’ve learned over the years, but because I’m no expert, I’ve also found some great links that go into more detail and provide more information about brush cleaning.
- Try to clean your brushes right after a painting session. Don’t give the paint a chance to dry.
- Don’t let your brushes sit in water or thinner for long periods of time. Firstly, the weight of the brush can bend the bristles so that they no longer form a tip. Secondly, it can loosen the bond of the bristles or the ferrule (the metal part).
- Acrylic paint can be washed off with warm water and a bit of soap.
- Oil paint needs to be washed with mineral spirits or turpentine, followed by soap.
- It helps to get as much oil paint out of your brush before cleaning with thinners.
- Work the soap into a lather, like you’re shampooing the bristles. Keep using fresh soap to get all the paint out.
- You can buy brush cleaner and conditioner to wash your brushes. This is a lot like soap, but I find it cuts the oil in oil paints better than plain soap. It can also help loosen partially dried paint from brushes and clothing.
On the Web
How to Clean your Paint Brushes after Oil Painting: Brush Cleaning 101
This takes you through the process step by step and even shows pictures.
Oil & Acrylic Painting Tips : Paint Brush Cleaner
This video talks about the different brush cleaners available and gives a quick demonstration on how to clean.
How to Clean Dry Paint out of Brushes
It happens to all of us eventually. Learn how to clean dry paint brushes with Lanolin hand cleaners.
Before I go take my own advice and clean my brushes, what are some unconventional tips you use to get your paint brushes like new again?
Tags: acrylic painting, oil painting, paint brush, paintings
Juxtaposition: Abstract Acrylic and Realistic Oil
Apr 27, 2010 On my Easel
Sometimes, working on two very different projects can be interesting.
It’s been awhile since I’ve posted about what’s on my easel, but that doesn’t mean that I haven’t been busy!
The other day I was working in the studio. When I stepped back, I saw these two paintings side by side and realized what a cool juxtaposition they made! They are completely different, opposites in more than one respect, and yet they relate to each other.
I like to pick out parallels between works that don’t seem to have anything in common. Here we have a blue, abstract, geometric painting in acrylic on the left, and an orange, realistic, oil painting on the right. Looking at them together makes it easy to see the similarities: bright, saturated colour, crisp lines, flat shapes. All the things that interest me!
It’s interesting because the dominant colours are not only opposites on the colour wheel, they are my two favorite colours. When trying a new technique or working with a new medium, I will always reach for either orange or blue. I am drawn to blue because it’s such a versatile colour, and to orange because of its intensity.
This piece is a continuation, almost a distillation, of the work I was doing earlier this year. Before, I was deconstructing paintings that I had completed as finished works.
Here, I have started with a sheet of gessoed canvas and painted flat, geometric shapes. Then I cut the canvas into 25 squares, as I did before, re-arranged them and painted more squares. The squares were glued to a piece of board, which was then torn apart.
This process combines the shapes and colours of my constructed paintings with the form and process of my reincarnated paintings.
The African sunset is actually a commission. My friend is getting married this summer and has asked me to do this painting, which will hang behind the bride and groom at the reception. The entire wedding will be African themed, hence the African sunset.
For this painting, I did everything right! I did a colour study and a value study to make sure I worked out any problems before digging into the real thing. This really helped me to achieve the illumination of the sun and to understand how to paint the shadows properly. If you go to my portrait website, you can see the painting studies as well as work-in-progress shots of the painting.
People seem to think it’s strange that I do both tight, realistic work and geometric abstractions. I stand by my theory that each is necessary to me, rewarding and challenging different parts of my brain. Especially when you see the two styles together, it’s evident that each informs the other.
Do you work in more than one style? How does that affect your art?
Tags: abstract, acrylic painting, oil painting, paintings
Tips for Mixing Oil and Acrylic Paints
Mar 28, 2010 Painting
When painting for the first time, mixing colours can seem very complicated. If you freeze when faced with a palette full of nice, new, fresh-from-the-tube paints, then these tips are for you!
- Go slowly and add little bits of colour at a time. Some paints are “stronger” than others and you only need a tiny bit for tinting.
- Mix dark into light; the dark colours will quickly over-power the lights.
- Make sure your palette is large enough that you have a decent space for mixing. A yogurt lid may not be big enough!
- A tiny bit of solvent for oils and water for acrylics can help make your paint go further. If you find your acrylics are drying much too fast, you can get a retarder to slow it down some.
- If you want to mix a “clean” secondary, choose primaries that lean toward that colour. For example, for a clean orange, choose a red and yellow that leans more towards orange (you should be able to tell just by comparing two reds which one leans more towards orange or violet).
- Try not to mix too many pigments all together; you will likely end up with mud! Remember that the three primaries mixed together will create grey, so if you’re using three pigments that contain the primaries between them, you will get grey too.
- If you do end up with grey, stop. Don’t try to add more and more paint to fix it. The easiest thing to do is wipe it off your canvas or palette and try again.
- Experiment with mixing using a brush and with a palette knife; see which one feels better to you.
On the Palette or On the Canvas?
When painting with oils and acrylics, you have two choices of where to mix your paints.
Mixing on the palette is probably the most common way to start out. This lets you mix and mix and mix until you feel ready to apply the paint. The problem with this technique is that you won’t truly know that you’ve mixed the right hue until you put it to the canvas and see it against the rest of your painting. To get around this, periodically hold your brush up to the canvas while you mix to make sure you are getting the right colour.
Mixing on the canvas is when you apply a pigment, then add another into it to create a new colour. This lets you instantly react to the painting as it progresses, but it’s trickier to do. You need to work quickly, especially with acrylics, and you run the risk of over-mixing and making mud.
Each technique has its pros and cons, but I encourage you to try both and see which one is more comfortable for you.
Finding the In-Between Colours
Sometimes it can be a challenge to see beyond the basic hues of the colour wheel: red, yellow, blue, green, orange, and violet. In reality, there are an infinite number of colours that can be mixed with the three primaries and some neutrals. The trick is to train yourself to see the colours that fall inbetween the tubes of paint you have; in other words, the colours that you can mix.
In general, it’s best not to use colours straight from the tube. These pigments are very saturated and are not often found in nature. Even if you want a very intense red, for example, it is a good idea to tint it slightly with a neutral colour to create an intense red more suited to the colour palette of your painting.
A great way to learn what colours you can make with the paints you have is with a colour chart. When you have some spare time, sit down with your paints and start mixing them all, keeping track of your combinations. When you’re finished, you’ll have a chart that shows you all your colour possibilities!
Have a look at this excellent article that goes into much more detail about creating a simple colour chart.
PS: As the end of March draws closer, I’m working on the next issue of the Learn to… Art! newsletter. Get it here!
Tags: acrylic painting, mixing, oil painting, paintings, palette
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