| Author |
Message |
 
John Preston
| | Posted on Monday, February 20, 2006 - 9:41 am: |  |
Linda,
I believe the 19th century English painters did something similar to that, some even laid an initial wash of Chinese white and worked over it. I've never felt the use of white stands out unless it's used like "whiteout". To me Cerulean, Cadmium, Yellow Ochre and many other colors are of equal or near equal opacity. |
Linda
| | Posted on Sunday, February 19, 2006 - 7:58 am: | |
John, another great John, John Pike, recommended that if one does use white, to mix a little in all the colors one uses, so the entirety blends well. Otherwise, he points out, the white tends to stick out, even in a mix!
I haven't used this technique, but his advice has stuck, and so I share it with you. |
John Preston
| | Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 9:31 am: | |
Robert,
Thank you for such kind comments. My watercolors tend to be my smaller lower priced works and oils are the upper end. I just tend to work smaller with watercolor and larger with oil. Many times the subject dictates: Watercolor will portray a clear sky better than oil every time. It's hard to make a large expanse of one color sit in space with oil. Watercolor will be luminous and you can exploit a granulating pigment. There's no way to dupe that with oil. On the other hand a complex sky gets away from me with watercolor. I sketch plein air and do finished work in the studio. I take photos too, especially for fleeting light situations early or late in the day (or in cold weather like today!) Most of my images are within a 2 mile radius of home. My darks are usually a mix of 2 already dark colors, ideally in one hit. If I glaze it's usually in the light to middle tones, staining color first. As I told Greg I have no qualms aboul white but I use it to mix a DISTINCT color not to paint over. For example Viridian + White makes a milky mint green that can't be duped with a pigment and water alone. Sometimes a tiny spot of White + Yellow Ochre work for a distant building against a tree line. White paper comes too far forward in that case, though it works OK for a middle distance building. |
Robert
| | Posted on Saturday, February 18, 2006 - 7:48 am: | |
John--I noticed on a gallery site (John Preston of Iowa??) that you do small paintings. How does this work for you in terms of gallery and buyer interest? BTW I absolutely love your work. Do your work pleain air? Do you use lots of multiple glazes? I would love to know how you get such rich and natural darks. Do you teach? |
greg
| | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 11:19 am: | |
WOW.....an honest confession.....
3 Hail Mary's for that.....
I love your work......I have seen may works that
I have admired and thought that there
must have been a small amount of white to get
that hazy, washed out, almost foggy appearance in the distance. |
John Preston
| | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 11:09 am: | |
Greg,
If you meant me, I usually just make things lighter, lower in chroma, sometimes cooler and sometimes softer. In a lot of instances (you won't like this) that means a bit of chinese white in the mix. It gives a distant milky quality to certain colors that can't be duplicated (I've tried hard) with water and pigment alone. Chinese white is about as opaque as a Cobalt or Cadmium and much less than some Indian or Venetian reds. I use it to get a particular color, not to cover something up. |
Robert
| | Posted on Friday, February 17, 2006 - 6:59 am: | |
Oh--to your original question, Greg. Let's say there is a distant rise of trees or mountains in full sun. I would mix the appropriate shade--say cobalt blue plus raw sienna with a touch of lemon --and make a very dilute puddle and paint the area as a solid shape, paying great attention to making the upper edge interesting. |
Robert
| | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 6:28 pm: | |
Greg -- Naples yellow is simply a convienance mix of yellow ochre (sometimes cad, yellow) plus white.
I think of white paint as belonging to another medium altogether. |
greg
| | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 2:00 pm: | |
John, you have great atmospheric perspective.
any hints or tricks? |
Raliegh
| | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 12:34 pm: | |
Thanks Eric, for the laugh "the subject of white paint in watercolor always brings about heated discussions. Beware. It could get ugly."
hehehe |
greg
| | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 11:55 am: | |
wow......this is like learing to walk again.....
in oil's I could almost use two tubes of titanium white on a large piece....... I will properly dispose of chinese, antique and titanium.....
or at least have my son hide them... |
Eric
| | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 11:40 am: | |
Greg- to dull the color, use the color's complement. For example if you use blue to dull orange, the orange will become more of a brown and eventually a gray if you add equal parts blue and orange.
Another way to dull the chroma would be to add black. Most watercolorists don't have black on their palette, but you can certainly use it to dull a color. I wouldn't use black alone though. Too lifeless-looking. |
greg
| | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 11:35 am: | |
I know using white in watercolor is taboo.
what about naples yellow? too opaque?
is the best way to dull chroma, mixing in a
small amount of it's compliment? or just mix the
color right the first time? |
Eric
| | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 11:20 am: | |
Greg, the subject of white paint in watercolor always brings about heated discussions. Beware. It could get ugly.
My opinion: Throw the tube of white away and never, ever even think about using it! If you do, the Watercolor Gods will strike you down immediately. |
Linda
| | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 11:17 am: | |
A purist does not use white paint. That is, a lover of purely transparent watercolor...that's just me (and very few others). Not all artists think this way. Many, many, and professionals too, use white paint, white gouache, even acrylic or pastel touches in their works. I like a challenge. The white of the paper is my white. Anything else looks to me like a mistake covered, or even more dull.
It's not hard either, to get back down to white paper, why, it just takes a razor blade in the worst situations! Then a nice coat of gum arabic, and viola, repaint! In the best situations, a hot water jet takes off most layers, especially if gum is added to a stainer pigment. We all know how to lift paint, eh?
Use diluted colors for distant elements, and to make them feel distant, paint this diluted color on wet paper so the edges are soft and atmospheric. This is how the best watercolorists do it. |
greg
| | Posted on Thursday, February 16, 2006 - 11:04 am: | |
when you are doing an object in the direct light or
landscape elements in the distance. Do you
use light washes of color keeping chroma down or dilute or dull your colors with a small amount of white? I am thinking most of you may not even use white at all...maybe a tube near your palette but
never on it. |
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