Add Pure Color into Reflected Light

When I can, I like to "get away" with adding thick intense pure color into reflected light (under the nose and chin for example). 

So often you can "hide" a bright pure color in plain sight - and nobody will notice it until you point it out.

In my Portrait of Zabie, above, I have added a brush stroke of pure cadmium orange - straight from the tube - underneath her chin.

I define "pure color" as a color without any addition of white to "dilute" it. Instead of adding white, I usually adjust the value (lightness or darkness) of this color with something lighter - usually yellow ochre pale in order to allow it to blend in with the surrounding tones. I am talking about thick paint here - not a glazed color.

I prefer to use the warm colors from my palette - reds, yellows and cadmium orange. But there is no reason not to use the cool colors if it serves the image.

Pure color can greatly enliven and enrich a painting. I try to find as many excuses to use pure color whenever and wherever I can.

Reflected light can be "toned down or neutralized" a bit by mixing two color opposites (i.e., red/green, purple/yellow) if necessary. If a cooler color is required, you can add a dab of white and/or blue  to "cool" the mixture. Sorry, I do not have an example of this handy.

Note that if you're not careful, you can lighten an area too much and run the risk of fragmenting a solid shadow - always a no no.

Although the accepted knowledge is that "reflected light" is actually reflected from a color specific object nearby, I seldom pay much attention to this. 

I say that whatever color looks good and you can get away with..go for it! Painting is not meant to be reality. "Reality" is mostly the task of photography.

Detail of my Portrait of Elizabeth Brewer. I used a streak of nearly pure cadmium orange both under the chin and in the earlobe on the left.

Detail of my Portrait of Whitney. I have added more yellow and a touch of blue here in order to tone it down.

A detail of my Portrait of Gwyneth. I used a little more yellow to tone it down under the nose and chin to avoid overpowering those delicate skin tones. Toward the ear, I used straight-from-the-tube undiluted cadmium orange.

Messing with "Reality"

Mother and Child

30" x 36" Oil on Linen

Besides the head size factor in the post below, here's another example of messing around with "reality". I had to use an example from my own work this time. (Sorry, I do not have a better photo of this painting).

The mother is a very petite woman. And her baby - based on my photographic reference - appeared to be much too large (in proportion to her) - a fact that only became apparent to me as I began to work out my drawing prior to painting.

I had to really "shrunk" the baby in this painting in order to make him "look real." Had I painted his size accurately (as in the photo) in relation to his mother's size, he would have looked very large and unreal.

I always try to paint to an archetype, i.e., "babies and children are small."

In a painting, "When it looks right - it is right."

When people claim that an artist should never use a photograph to paint from - I think that they may have little understanding of what must be done in order to translate a photographic reference into a painting.

Photos are good as photos - but an artist really cannot be expected to copy a photo exactly in order to make a good painting. It takes knowledge and skill (and a little trickery) to translate a visual image into something that looks "real."

Head Size and the Suggestion of Intellect in Painting

Although I paint from photographic reference material, I don't feel any need to be confined by that "reality" - most especially when it comes to an anatomical proportion like head size. 

This is one of those little portrait painter secrets that hides in plain sight in just about every "old" portrait you will find hanging in any museum.

Below are some more extreme examples so you can easily see and understand this. Velazquez made King Philip IV of Spain look very "kingly,  noble and intelligent" by merely adjusting the proportions of his body to be larger and "shrinking the size" of his head. 

The painter also chose a perspective point slightly above our eye level so that in order to view the King's face, we must "look up" to him. This painting is very large ( 82 1/8" x 43 3/8" - and with the heavy frame, it looks larger still)-  yet the head is less than life size! 

The king's only decoration is a golden chain. Most royal portraits of this era emphasized lavish displays of clothing and props but Philip IV is soberly represented in black. Because of the artist's skill in employing this "head size" trick, the importance of this great and powerful ruler is self-evident.

We can easily translate "understating the head size" into contemporary portraiture.  I employ this technique when I want the personality to appear as an intelligent and worthy leader. (i.e., when painting a president, CEO, etc). 

However, I would suggest that this "painting trick" be very subtle and not appear as extreme as these examples (although Velazquez's example of this above illustrates the concept so well).

When the subject is painted with a large head (as in the pictures below), even though it looks perfectly normal in reality, this "large-head" feature tends to make the sitter look a "wee bit stupid" in a painted portrait.

John Singleton Copley probably painted the actual sitter's head size accurately, but it doesn't really flatter or make The Portrait of Eleazer Tyng (below) look very bright. 

It was tough to find any Old Master Painter who painted heads too large so I offer my apologies to John Singleton Copley for picking on him for these examples. 

Below is another example of a head (The Portrait of Hon John Erving) that is painted at an unflattering size. 

And yet another "big head,"- herewith The Portrait of Exekiel Goldthwait. If anything, the clothing, wig and background devices may suggest his "importance."

I define "head size" to be the measurements from under the chin to the top of the skull (not the top of the hair).

Most adult head sizes average 9 inches...give or take....

 I prefer to not paint any head larger than 6 1/5 inches (3/4 size) no matter how large the canvas size.

The larger the canvas, the more important the clothing, props and "background" become.

Below is a large painting - still with less than life size heads but lots of background.

Above is another copley "Mr. and Mrs Ralph Isard," and this canvas size is 68 3/4" x 88." The viewer is so "taken with" all the interesting things happening in this painting and Copley's painterly brush that we hardly notice those shrunken heads on life (or larger-than-life) size bodies.

* Note, there is a little matter of catchlights in the eyes - where you put them will give a sitter a decidedly "dull" look or make them appear bright-eyed and bushy-tailed.

But that is for a later post, stay tuned.

How to Photograph Your Artwork Outdoors

In a pinch, I can successfully photograph my paintings out of doors.

I'd nail some black non reflective cloth (or something a dark neutral color) on the north side of the house, garage, barn, whatever. The point is to be in open shade so there will be even illumination and no glare.

Hang the painting at eye level over the black cloth so that the cloth is blocking out the background. Having the painting hang vertically and the camera lens aimed at dead center will help eliminate distortion.

Stand in the shadow cast by the building so that no sunlight will be directed at the camera lens. 

Set the aperture of your camera if possible to the highest number you can in order to record as much detail as possible. Adjust your White Balance if you have that option.

Use a tripod to avoid any blur. With north light, there is no glare and your colors should be accurate.

Using the Golden Section

To locate the center of interest with the Golden Section: Divide the height of your canvas by 2.62 and determine a horizontal line through this point.

Then divide the width of your canvas by 2.62 and draw a vertical line through this point.

The intersection of these two lines is a magical spot for your center of interest.

For example, the center of interest on an 8 1/2 x 11 inch standard sheet of typewriter paper would be determined thus:

8.5 divided by 2.62 = 3.2 inches and 11 divided by 2.62 = 4.2inches.

The intersection of the two lines described above is the exact point of the kiss in this painting above.

Of course there are many valid ways to compose a work of art but using the Golden Section is one to consider.

High Meadow (Encaustic Painting)

High Meadow 

10" x 10" Encaustic on Board, Framed

SOLD

Apples in Blue Bowl Still Life

Apples in Blue Bowl 

8" x 10" Oil on Linen, Framed

$1200

Portrait of Grayson

Portrait of Grayson

20" x 24" Oil on Linen

I won two awards for this portrait of Grayson Gibbs:

Winner, Special Recognition Award,

1998 International Juried "Portraits Only" Competition, Washington Society of Portrait Artists, Washington, DC

and also

First Prize Winner,

American Society of Portrait Artists, 1997 Portrait Arts Festival Competition, Montgomery Alabama.

Portrait artist Karin Wells, Historical Portraits

How Ivory Black + White = Blue

With the "Earth Palette" I can use a mixture of Ivory Black and Titanium White to make what appears to be the color blue.

When using an earth palette, this mixture does NOT make gray, really!

All of the so-called “blue” in my paintings are made from this and you can see it in the examples below.

In fact the blue from an Ivory Black and White mixture is so "electric" I often need to tone it down by adding some reds and/or yellows.

If I wish to deepen and enrich an area of this mixture of "blue," I could glaze a little French Ultramarine or Prussian Blue over it....but rarely, if ever, need to do this.

None of the examples below have any glazed colors to make the blues look bluer - they are all a black/white mixture - and most have yellow or red added to calm it down.

The drapery behind the figure is purely black + white. The black/white mixture in the sky is cut with raw umber and raw sienna.

I added a little red into these black and white mixtures to get a blue that is a bit on the purple side.

The sky is basically black and white with some reds added for warmth near the horizon line. I darkened and slightly neutralized the blue at the top of the canvas so as not to draw the eye upwards.

Again, the black/white mixture needed to be cut with raw sienna because it was much too bright for a background.

I began the blue checkered tablecloth by mixing a thin glaze of French Ultramarine + Ivory Black to sketch in a pattern of checks over a plain white painted cloth underneath.

When it was dry, I matched the paint value with the black/white mixture and covered it up in order to create the ilusion of a blue checkered tablecloth.

Of course, the shadow areas were a darker black/white mixture with raw sienna added for warmth (shadows are supposed to be warm).

Take a peek at my black & white sky at:

http://karinwells.blogspot.com/2008/03/cliff-landscapes.html

With this particular earth palette, I cannot paint a landscape and make a sky look "natural" if I use any blue paint on my canvas.

When I was learning to paint, I copied the Old Masters - I especially learned most of what I know from Vermeer. I quickly learned that I was unable to duplicate the colors unless I eliminated the blues.

My Old Masters Earth Palette

I use a basic Old Master’s Earth Palette. It consists of the three primary colors; red, yellow and blue. And, of course, black and white.

My palette includes both warm and cool colors in each color family. The temperature of a color is relative to the colors surrounding it. For example, yellows are generally thought to be warm – but in that “color family” the Lemon Yellow Hue is cooler than the Indian Yellow.

French Ultramarine is a cool blue color and Prussian Blue is a warm blue color. Except to glaze, I seldom use these blue paints.

With this particular earth palette, a mixture of Ivory Black and White will make a color that “reads” as blue. The “blues” in my paintings are made from this. If I need to deepen and enrich a "blue" in my painting, I tend to use these tubed blue colors to glaze only.

Indian Red warm. Mixed with Cadmium Orange it makes a deep rich Vermillion color.

I only use Permanent Alizarin Crimson because it archival and long lasting.

Red pigments have been historically among the most fugitive colors. This degeneration rarely occurs in synthetic or natural inorganic pigments. Although modern chemistry has made spectacular advances in filling in this part of the color space, I feel that within this group of colors you must read your labels and choose wisely.

Professional ethics (if not common decency) means informing your clients when a work contains a fugitive color (such as alizarin crimson), so that collectors can decide for themselves whether they want to accept the risk.

Although it paints wonderfully, I do not use flake white as it contains lead. Gamblin makes a Flake White Replacement that is non-toxic.

I mostly use Titanium White as it is opaque and dries rather quickly.

Zinc White** is translucent and does not cover well. However, it is a useful color to “cool” an area.

About Acrylic Paints:

If when I have occassion to use them, I prefer the earth colors of Liquitex Basic Matt Colors.

**NOTE: Since my original post about Zinc White I have discovered that there are problems with paintings that contain Zinc White. See this post and this article.

Ivory Black is a nice warm black and I mostly use it as a glaze, to turn an edge or mixed with white to make a color that appears “blue.” Ivory Black cannot be use thickly by itself or it will crack.

Ivory Black also takes longer to dry than most other colors.

To make the color “black” I often mix Prussian Blue and Burnt Umber and glaze it into an area. It is better to add several layers of glaze to get the dark color you wish than attempt to use one coat of thick paint.

Opaque colors are usually applied thickly. Transparent and translucent colors – when used alone - need to be kept very thin.