Art Tip #118

Tools for Seeing Values

Use a Value Finder -  Using a red value finder will help you start to "see" values.  It removes the color which can confuse determining value.  There are a few different Value Finders.  This one can be found here at Dick Blick.

Accuview App - Great app that is primarily an app for composition but it has the ability to be used as a value finder.  Just take your photo and use the value scale to remove color. Easy to use. For iPhone, click here.

Value Sketches - A tried & true method.  It's not an app and maybe not "sexy" but I think it's still the best way to be a good artist.  Learning to see as an artist requires training your eyes.  Using tools and apps can be good but there's no substitute for seeing it for yourself.  So grab your sketchbook, look, look again, judge one value against another & soon it will become a valuable skill that will carry you along your journey of becoming a better artist.

Art Tip #117

Sargent Knows Best

Students want to their paintings to have pretty brushwork.  I teach students to first learn to make their paintings read from a distance and then spend a lifetime perfecting how it looks up close. Value is the key.  Painting detail can give you a sense that you've capture the subject but without the correct values, your painting will be flat and uninviting.  If you don't catch a viewer's eye from a distance, they won't get close enough to enjoy the brushwork.

John Singer Sargent was the first painter to inspire me & I seek out his work for guidance. Viewing his paintings in person, I'm always struck at how he disguises detail with a few strokes of the brush. As wonderful as his brushwork is, it's value that carries a painting.   No matter how beautiful the strokes or color, if the values aren't correct, then it will fail. In JSS's painting "Head Study of a Capri Girl" from a distance, you think that the earrings would be described in detail until you are a few inches away from the painting.  In fact, it's 2 to 3 very well placed, value correct strokes.   I'm drawn to those beautiful strokes for the earrings but realize that if the values of the entire painting aren't correct...the earrings won't matter.

Those who watched Sargent painting in his studio were reminded of his habit of stepping backwards after almost every stroke of the brush on the canvas, and the tracks of his paces so worn on the carpet that it suggested a sheep run through the heather.   

In stepping back, JSS was mainly judging the how his painting read, not his brushwork.

                                   

My goal is to paint the "essence" of my subject, not the exactness of it. Value allows me that. Stepping back helps you judge how little you can get away with and still convey it.
 

Art Tip #115

Do you think while you mix color?

The next few posts are going to hopefully get you to think & evaluate more about how you approach color mixing.  Here are a few questions to ask yourself.  I will be breaking these questions down into individual posts as we go along.  Just the tip of the iceberg.

1. Do you premix the majority of your palette?  Premixing helps you harmonize your painting.  Having the entire color scheme mixed next to each other allows you to see the spectrum of values, hues & saturation.   It also weeds out any "Screaming Mimi" colors that don't work before they hit the canvas.  This will help keep your painting "fresh" because you aren't constantly scrapping & remixing colors.                                                                                                      

2.  Do you have temperature variety in your palette.  Ex. If you are painting a pomegranate, did you just mix a range of light, halftone & dark reds or did you think about shifting the temperature & saturation of the reds as well?      

3.  Do you think about the saturation of colors?  Putting the purest of color in your focal point will work but if what's around it is just as saturated doesn't that dilute the focal point?            

4.  Do you mix colors that will be next to each other on the canvas?  I tend to mix color from my focal point out.  Mix colors that lie next to each other in order to judge value, temperature & saturation.

5.  Do you mix with a color in mind?  A student recently asked me how to mix Cerulean Blue.  I said I didn't have a clue.  I don't mix to a particular "color name".  My goal to mix the correct color for a specific spot in a painting.  I never think "Oh, I need Cerulean Blue" there.  Instead, I'm thinking that the color needs to be more warm or cool or more saturated or less or needs to shift in value.  Keep tube colors out of your head, let what's next to the color dictate what direction you go.

If you were to watch me mix color or paint, you'd think I was just letting the paint flow without a care in the world.  Reality is that my brain is going full speed.  I constantly have a running list of questions.  Not thinking is the worst thing for me.  It gets me in trouble every time.  While some of it is intuitive that comes from years of building my fundamentals but it doesn't allow me to turn my brain off.  So grab your palette knife & start mixing but bring your brain along for the ride.

Art Tip #114

Unfinished?

Today's post doesn't exactly fall into the category of  an Art Tip.  But it's on my mind.  A fellow artist & I started a conversation a few months ago about "unfinished" work.   Personally, I love stopping short of defining everything.  I think that my "unfinished" works sometimes say more about me as an artist than the finished pieces.  It feels like a fresher approach but does that matter to the buyers & should I care?  My friend felt that there was a market (albeit, an educated market) for this type of work.  Or does it once again come down to the right collector for the right piece?

 I always know the point when I have crossed the line.  It's exactly 1 minute too late.  Then I kick myself for going past the point of no return.  

  

Now that I've starting painting abstracts it's possible that's where I'll satisfy my soul.  Maybe the art tip today is to keep searching & stretching yourself artistically.

Happy Painting!

Art Tip #113

Finding the Abstraction

"Caribbean Storm"

I've been toying with trying my hand at an abstract but couldn't seem to find a jumping off point until now.  I find a small percentage of abstracts compelling. Why?  Because a small amount of artists understand & can communicate the "rules" of painting. Good abstracts aren't about "wiping" paint onto a canvas & throwing a few words in for good measure.  You hear "Learn the rules, then you can break them".  I feel like I now have a decent handle on the foundations & that's why I have some confidence to attempt a few.

I've been studying art (in one form or another) almost all my life.  My tastes have evolved by viewing artists who have honed their craft & place an emphasis on quality.  With this observation, I have tried to set my own bar high. By that, I mean to strive to produce  quality work.  Will I fail?  Most definitely.  More times than I'll succeed but hopefully most failures won't end up for public consumption, rather, for me to evaluate why it didn't work & incorporate those lessons into the next painting.

I see some students jump to abstracts because they've grown frustrated & impatient with learning the foundations of painting.  It's a kind of a short cut.  Can't draw a figure, no problem, I'll just abstract it.  Except abstraction comes from reality.  There are no short cuts in life or art.  Being good at something doesn't happen overnight.  When I first started painting, a very wise person told me that in 10 years, I'd really start to get it.  They were so right.  I feel like I'm at the beginning of my journey & it's a glorious journey.  

Bad abstracts are like the Kardashians' of the art world.  All glitz, no substance.  Not to say there isn't a place for them but being known for glitz isn't what I'm striving for. But remember good art will stand the test of time.

Whatever your painting style is, set some personal standards & goals. It's a great feeling when you achieve them and don't forget to have some fun along with way.

Jumping off my soapbox now, hopefully, I won't sprain anything.  ;)

Here are a few of favorite abstract/expressionist painters:

Dan McCaw  

Richard Diebenkorn

Robert Langford

Rod Wimer

Brian Rutenberg

Art Tip #112

Breaking Down Florals

I'm often asked how do you paint flowers without indicating every petal.  It starts with the basic shape, as with anything you paint.  As you see in the photo below, with the blue flowers, I painted the darkest blue first in a general rectangular shape.  The white flowers were circular & blocked in a half-tone greyed bluish purple.  Side note:  I can paint but evidently drawing on a painting is not my best skill.

I work from dark (transparent) to light which enables me to lay the lights on top with a minimum number of strokes.  I always try to create form by painting from the outside in (see below).  Defining my shapes from the background allows me to keep from getting too detailed. Also, leaving a little of my underpainting showing thru helps balance the need to over define. The leaves are added at the mid-point, in half-tones and are there to support the flowers not overpower them.

The last strokes are the lights (which are opaque & heavier paint).  If you look closely you will see that my lightest lights are the smallest portion of the flowers.  Without the darks & half-tones, the lights will appear flat.  Students are always so anxious to place the highlight on an object without realizing that what's underneath the highlight is more vital to creating form that one light stroke.