The Art of Organization

My pencils were scattered all over my studio and I could never quite find this or that when I needed it. So what did I do? I put them all in one place. In an old box I inherited from my mother -- a box she had used in art school in the 70's.

Expression vs Fundementals

Here's a painting done in class by artist, Becki Fink. It's a good example of how a portrait can be powerful. Not due to how realistic it is painted but, instead, due to the choices being made regarding other issues in art. Perhaps a balance was struck between emotional awareness and the logical brain to help inform decision making. After all, art is an expression of ourselves the same way dancing and music is. Expressing yourself comes first and not the worrying about how well it should be done.

Personally, if I had to choose one over the other (between fundamentals or expression) I would certainly choose expression. I would throw-out fundamentals and create without rules, without limitations or constraints on oneself. Especially when those limitations may have been conjured-up and handed down by teachers, institutions or the World of Art at large.

It certainly helps to have something to say about yourself as an individual. Express your ideas, your experiences, your feelings or life in general. Push your imagination and let your imagination realize your path.

If you think too hard about it, you may lose the point entirely.

Cabin in the Woods

Oil on canvas, 11x14 inches. By Titus Castanza

Color and Value

 

When learning about color you need to be concerned with how value affects color. 

When mixing:

1.What color is the object ? (red, green, blue or orange, etc) 

2. How much value (gray) is in that color?

color + value = the color of the object

How does value affect color? 

Tone is used to lighten or darken a color and to make it less colorful, or, less intense. Keep in mind that each individual color is naturally lighter or darker as it comes out of the tube. For instance, cadmium red is darker than cadmium yellow. The value gray used will be determined by how light or dark the color. If you don't want to lighten or darken the color and only want to subdue (make less intense), then you can mix a gray that is the same value as the color. This will subdue the color without affecting its value. 

Tone refers to the gray within a color. 
Tone is gray (made-up of white and black).    

   
tint (white) + shade (black) = tone (gray)

(tone, or gray, is just another word for value)

(white + black = gray)

The basics to understanding color is that simple! Don't make it more complicated.

Portrait process

Class painting demonstration by Titus Castanza – explaining how to go about building a portrait.

Low key painting–5 value

You can flip through the images by clicking on the first image then using the scroll button on your mouse to witness the building of the image!

Today's Class Demo

Today's lesson was about how to create washes and transparent paint...and, knowing the difference between the two.

Washes are done at the very beginning by diluting the oil paint with turpentine; this is done to tone the white of the canvas or to establish a loose drawing. Typically, you can use "transparent paints" or "opaque paints" to do this. This stage is nearly identical and feels just like using watercolors–instead of water, we are using turpentine. It may help to know that turpentine degrades the paint, it breaks down the paint. This will leave the paint looking flat or "sunken" after it is dry because turps strip the paint of its luster and integrity. Turps will also cause cracking over time if the paint is applied any thicker than a wash. Linseed oil doesn't do this; linseed oil gives the paint elasticity and gloss (or semi-gloss). 

For applying transparent paint, transparent paints can be applied anytime during the painting process and is typically used with linseed oil or stand oil (thickened linseed oil). You may also use Liquin Original by Windsor & Newton. If any turpentine is used at this point, it would be in very modest amounts and only in addition to linseed oil (as if to slightly thin the oil). Too much turpentine in the mix and it will reactivate the previously applied layer of paint or wash. The previous layer must be dry, or "sticky", before a transparent layer can be applied.

Transparent paint can be applied thin, semi-thick or thick–unlike a wash. The key to applying transparent paint is to use only the transparent colors; such as, Viridian, Alizarin, Transparent Brown Oxide, Indian Yellow, etc. Know which paints are transparent and which ones that are not! Cadmium colors are not transparent, for example. Also to further complicate matters, know which paints are semi-transparent and semi-opaque. You should know every color in your box and whether it is opaque, transparent, semi-transparent or semi-opaque. Many manufacturers list this information on the paint tube. If not, then go to the manufacturers website and look it up.

Please post any questions you may have so that I may post the answers for everyone to see.