What it takes to Paint in COLOR

by Kathryn Mapes Turner

 

"Color in a picture is like enthusiasm in life"-Vincent Van Gogh

 

Volumes can be written on the subject of color. Since it is autumn, we couldn't resist touching on this subject for this month's article.   No doubt about it, the experience of color is a special part of life and no one does color like Mother Nature. In the summer, she exhibits the bright colors of the wildflowers.  Currently, Jackson Hole is ablaze with golden aspen leaves, red mountain maple, and all is off-set by distant blue mountains and evergreens.  Soon, the landscape will be blanketed in white snow with shimmering blues and greys. 

     
As painters, we are challenged and inspired by the effects of light on all these colors found in nature.  Everything has what can be referred to as a color note.  A color note is the combination of hue, value (light and dark) and intensity. 

  

REMEMBERING ROY G. BIV

Depending on how it is being effected by light at that moment, we can identify the color note of our subject. The first thing we can ask is where the color note lies in the spectrum of the rainbow of colors.  This is referred to as the hue.  Remember the acronym we learned in grade school, Roy G. Biv?  Red, orange, yellow...These are the color names, or hues. In this painting of the Gros Ventre range, the hue of the sky is blue and the grass is yellow-green.

Cloud Veil by Kathryn M. Turner 16 x 20 oil on linen. Available

If there is smoke in the air, it is sunrise or sunset, the sky would likely have a different hue.  Similarly, grass is not always green.  Later in the season, this same field is a honey wheat hue. Within each hue, there is a spectrum of value, intensity and temperature.

 

VALUE

When creating a painting, we must also consider the relative lightness or darkness orvalue of an area.  There is a saying in our industry- "Color gets all the credit, value does all the work." It is the relationships of values within a painting that depicts a sense of space and form. In this painting, there is not a broad range of hues represented, but the contrast between the light and dark values describe to the viewer  the shapes of the rocks and how the water streams through them.  

 

INTENSITY

 Each color note in a painting can be bright or dull. This refers to the intensity or relative strength of saturation of any given color.  As a general rule, colors in the distance appear lighter in value and less intense than when viewed close up.  In nature, colors are often less intense than the colors that come out of our paint tubes.  To obtain these subtle colors, we mix colors with their compliments in order to make their chroma  less intense.

The Refinement of Nature by Kathryn M. Turner 9 x 12 oil on linen

 TEMPERATURE

 Each hue also has a relative temperature.  Cool colors have a bias toward blue, green and violet. Warm colors have a bias toward red, orange or yellow.  This is how it is possible to have a "cool" red such as alizarin crimson or a 'warm blue' such as french ultramarine.

 

Everything around us is an array of color. The vivid light and color of the world is what compels us to paint. As we strive to continue to understand the world of color, we do our best to create artwork that moves in a similar way. 

Jackson Peak in October by Kathryn M. Turner 9 x 12 oil on linen

When is Fine Painting Like Cooking?

Q: When is Fine Painting like Fine Cooking?

A: When the artist knows what to put in and what to leave out.

  Bill Sawczuk



Running Horses, oil on linen, 12x16. © Bill Sawczuk, 2014.



When I was a kid in the 50s, we used to eat a lot of soup.  Sometimes the soup contained everything in the icebox (that's right, the icebox), and although it was flavorful, we couldn't tell what flavor it was.  It was called garden soup, but sometimes we called it garbage soup.  I think that the same thing could be applied to painting.  If you put too much in, the picture might be painted well, but the viewer might not recognize the subject .   

Peaceful Afternoon, oil on linen, 8x10. © Bill Sawczuk, 2014.



Stippy's and Moran, oil on linen, 9x12. © Bill Sawczuk, 2014.

We are often tempted while painting en plein air to include everything that we see in the scene.  We may feel that the viewer might need all the facts to understand the picture.  The crucial time to resist the temptation to put everything in the soup is in the early composition stage of the painting.  Ask the question,  "What do I need to tell the story?"  The all-inclusive data is in the scene before me, but what should I leave out?  What can the viewer complete in his own analysis of the painting?  Will I clutter up my efforts to express my reaction to the scene by including every tree, every branch, every rock, etc.?  All of these elements may be hinted at in my painting, and the viewer will know that it is a forested, rocky scene.

 

Zero in on the subject.  Know what you are trying to say.  If you don't know that, why are you painting?  If you are trying to show the beauty of horses running through a pasture , for example, what more do you need than the horses and the pasture?  Do you need fences, barns, rocks or anything else? Paint the horses  as well as you can. Try to show their grace and their spirit .  If you can do  that, you will be successful.  Your painting will be complete, and you won't have to throw anything else in!

Texas Blood, oil on linen, 10x10. © Bill Sawczuk, 2014.

 

 

We want to share our artistic process with you! 

This is a continuing series of posts here on our gallery blog:

Behind the Brushes  -  http://triofineart.blogspot.com

The artists at Trio will be taking turns writing about art and sharing on the last week of each month.  If you have a question or an idea for a post, please email us at trio@triofineart.com

or call 307-734-4444.

 

Visit our website at www.triofineart.com

 

Paintings from Photos vs. Life

We Weigh in on a Historic Debate

Photographic technology has been a helpful tool for artists for hundreds of years.  Leonardo da Vinci and Johannes Vermeer are thought to have 

used a camera obscura.  Artists like Edgar Degas, Alphonse Mucha, Paul Cezanne and Pablo Picasso have all used this tool. A camera captures the fleeting moments of sunrise, the flight of a flock of birds, a family of bears fishing.  Like legions of artists, we utilize photography in our work.  However, just as having a hammer does not make one a carpenter, it is the effective use of photography that is important.

36 x 48 oil by Kathryn M. Turner

"A Camera Never Lies?" 

While tremendously helpful, a photograph also has serious limitations. It distorts and flattens the subject.  The shadows lose light and color. It captures a level of detail that is far beyond what the human eye can naturally perceive.  Colors can either lose their luster or go the other way and look artificial.  When using photography, it is important to be aware of these inaccuracies and adjust for them. The knowledge of how to do so is gained from working from life. Proportions, color, and the subtlety of light are gained from critical observation.  This is why working from the live model, studying anatomy and movement, learning atmospheric and linear perspective and painting on location are so important to us.  In this way, life is our primary reference.  Photography is supplemental information.

                                                                                                                                photo by Mike Flaherty

The Poetry of Painting

None of the three of us are what you would call photo-realist painters.  We want to capture the impression or essence of a scene or subject rather than a photographic depiction.  When working with photographs, we do a great deal of editing in order to serve the intention of the painting.  Lots of extraneous information is left on the cutting room floor.  Then the key elements of the photo are rearranged and re-scaled.  Edges are blurred and colors are adjusted.  As artist David Hockney says, "Optical devices certainly don't paint paintings. "  It is the painter's hand that can bring a different essence to the spirit of an image.  

20 x 26 Watercolor by Kathryn M. Turner