Painting from sketches...

Painting done in studio from sketchbook drawing

Value study done on computer

Original drawing done on location

The Pool House, aprox. 7x10 inches. This is a painting done directly from a drawing done in my sketchbook. I completed the drawing on-site then did the painting in the studio using the drawing as my only reference. Painting from sketches is a great way to push the imagination, improve memory and improve drawing practices. It will push you to recollect basic information. You will find that your drawings will now have a driving force, a purpose and an ability to record only the information needed to complete a finished painting. The rest will be left to the imagination. Trust in yourself and your brain muscles. You will learn to simplify and you will achieve much more interesting results in the process.

Yurmby Color Wheel

Here's the Yurmby color wheel, approximately 12 x 12 inches in diameter. A valuable exercise in toning the colors on your palette. I used the primary colors on my existing palette including magenta and cyan. All you need to do is progressively add more gray to each color step as it approaches the center of the wheel. The middle value gray dot used in the center of the wheel is the same value gray I used to tone all the colors. Colors I used: Y=cadmium yellow pale, R=cadmium red, M=Permanent Magenta, B=French Ultramarine, C=cyan (manganese blue phthalo), and G=cyan+cad yellow pale. You will find that mixing your batches of paint with a palette knife is critical, you will build a sensitivity to how value alone affects color and you will also learn to be more organized when mixing batches of paint on your palette.

Here's a great website created by Richard Robinson and offers an interactive color wheel where you can create your own gamut masks in virtual reality!

http://www.livepaintinglessons.com/gamutmask.php