| Author | Message | ||
  drollere |
this is a topic of personal preferences but here are mine: * it's incredibly useful to learn the *pigments* contained in paints. these represent the main and important differences between one "color" and another. for example, with the exception of art spectrum paints, all quinacridone "colors" are transparent and moderately to heavily staining. all cobalt "colors" are relatively nonstaining and semitransparent to opaque. all cadmium "colors" are intense, staining and opaque. and so on. * differences between "colors" having the same name across different paint brands arise because the pigments are different. for example, the daniel smith "burnt sienna" is relatively opaque, because it is made with an ordinary iron oxide. the winsor & newton "burnt sienna" is made with a transparent iron oxide having a much smaller particle size. again, the paint quality arises mostly from the kind of pigment used. * once you have decided which pigments you like or don't like, you can select the manufacturers that give those pigments the best finish -- in terms of quality of pigment, pigment density, vehicle formulation, lack of fillers or extenders, and so on. * once you've selected your paints, stick with them for a while and learn how they work together. willy nilly changing paints and palettes from one week to the next will only confuse you. stick with what you have and add or change only when you understand why you want to do that. the essential thing isn't fussing about your paints, but DOING A LOT OF PAINTINGS. that's the only way you learn anything about watercolors. * most artists carry or use now and then more paints than they use in any one painting -- usually 6 or 8 in one painting, out of a set of 10 or 20 paints in the box. if you use a "pure paint" approach, like paul signac, where every color is a pure paint laid without mixing on the page, then the number of paints you require goes up. if you mix all your colors on the palette, the number of paints you require is less. painting motif and painting style all affect the choice and number of paints you use. * teachers tell you what *they* know. if you don't like what they know, go out and learn something for yourself. zoltan szabo's book on color mixing is a great intro to different pigments and the qualities they introduce to a painting. see the review of the book on handprint. | ||
jandrle |
Sure... my stuff is at www.loftgallery.org I am Jane A. Gillette. Thanks for asking. I really enjoy your www and have found them inspirational. The spirit is so strong. The opaque paint is Holbein. That shows you how attentive to detail I am. Wrote the last e at work and am now home to check! Also, I don't have Indian Red so will get some tomorrow, Pearl is on my way home, luckily. Jane | ||
Kukana |
Jeanne Dobie uses WN INdian Red. ANd yes it is opaque WC but I not considered Gouche..Bruce??? can you clarify?? | ||
Kukana |
Jane, Once you posted your website, didn't you??? Could you post it again. I want to see again. Thanks | ||
jandrle |
I will try that. Just found a bag with two tubes in it that I bought months ago and lost, to try... might as well try one more! haha And I get tired of the greens that I mix. Since most of what I paint is architecture, there is quite often a lot of growth around... not the main object, but important nonetheless... Does Indian Red come in a number of brands or is it unique to one? Last fall I got three or four tubes of really nice colors that turned out to be sort of opaque, I want to say da Vinci but am not sure... maybe Rembrandt. When I use them they need to be the last thing I put on because other colors painted against them feather into the color. They are sort of Key West colors... I paint a lot of porches and cottages from there. I have been thinking about the paper discussion a lot too and have decided that the "fake" Arches is probably what has been causing my frustration with paper. It feels like I am overpainting everything. Granted, I paint dark for watercolors but I am more focused on the feeling... when I look at the work from a distance it doesn't look muddy or particularly overworked. Maybe it is how the paper is taking the paint? Also, sometimes when I get caught up in "what it is" and forget to look at shapes that happens... Hummmmmmm Jane | ||
Kukana |
Was your phantom color Indian Red? It's quite opaque but in Jeanne Dobie's Book, "Making Colors Sing" she considers it a must for wonderful greens and it is , to me, exactly the color of terra Cotta pots.!! | ||
jandrle |
I have been using the same basic pallette for almost 20 years. It is funny, I don't have a clue what the names of the colors are, and have a heck of a time replacing them. Once in awhile a well empties and I am glad to be rid of the color. Then I try a new one, something I feel I have been lacking. There was a gold ochre color I bought for a dollar in a bargain bin at Pearl, loved it as much as any other color I have ever owned and have been searching for since I used it up. It is the color of clay flower pots and mixes with blues for really effective greens. Since I am painting more than ever, and have become a serious painter I have started saving the tubes so I can replace paint with out anguishing over the color. A friend of mine has put stickers with the name of paint on the top of her pallette, so she can replace the paint. Funny how different we all approach this avocation! Jane | ||
Kukana |
Pepsi, you are absolutley right. It's a hoot when one finally comes up with one's own pallette of choice. The day I labeled one WWW I felt I had arrived at one such point. But you're also right about what I call "Standing in borrowed light." Until I reached a point where my pallette and work truely expressed myself it was encouraging and supportive to borrow a little light and knowledge from those who have gone before....Like great artists, peers and Bruce from handprint | ||
Pepsi Freund |
I believe you get something from every instructor. However, there is a point where you develop your own pallette. When you start you need to obtain information from pros but after a while you better start asking yourself if you are serious about color and start the task of making color charts. Obtain your own identity. First you learn the alphabet and then connect words and finally write your "own" letter. | ||
Dazey |
I have found that I am doing the same thing. Accumulating palettes for different instructors and even different stages in my painting. Very good idea to label the pallette with the instructors name. I am going to go do that right now. One question. Don't some of these paints dry up and turn into crumbs? Do you try to maintain any freshnss in the pigments? | ||
Kukana |
Josie, Everyone has an opinion on what the one and only true pallette on the face of the earth is and their theory for finding it. That's why companies like Daniel Smith actually offer signature sets of the colors. You can actually purchase the "Jeanne Dobie set" the Frank Webb Set and the Don Andrews set...all in Daniel Smith paints. Does this mean that Say Frank Webb uses only those Daniel Smith colors???No way. He uses mostly American Journey but roughly stays within those color choices, give or take. Over the years, Every workshop I have ever taken I buy a new plastic pallette and the colors they reccomend. I have them staked in my art studio, each labeled with the artist name. When I get in a rut or looking for a fresh different approach from my usual work I grab on and use it. I love to dothis. The real fun come in when after years of painting and several plastic 'Pike-type" pallettes (I prefer the Frank Webb one)I have a couple of pallettes labeled with my name and the words, Landscape or WWW written next to them. Yes this is spendy, but hey, I don't smoke, drink or gamble. This is my vice!!! My only consolation is that as much as I have, Carrie Sturat Parks has more...She wins!! | ||
Mike Scott |
Just want to add: I have been using a basic landscape palette for a long time and it has helped simplify the learning process for me. Over time, however, I've continued purchasing different pigments from different manufacturers. I'm glad I have because now that I'm ready to add different pigments, I have a great variety to choose from. The "handprint" website has some great ideas for trying different types of palettes, from a few pigments to a complete palette. Personally, my favorite watercolor paints are M. Graham and W&N, but the American Journey paint is fantastic; I tend to paint more bold and colorful pictures using American Journey paint because it's so inexpensive that I feel no compulsion to be frugal. | ||
John Preston |
Josie, hang on to your colors, eventually you'll use them and many others too. The whole purpose behind that limited palette thing is to familiarize you with pigment properties a few at a time, starting with the all around workhorse colors. Unlike oil, acrylic, etc., watercolor brings all a pigment's properties into play. Eventually you'll have several Pike palettes! And eventually you'll settle on a number of colors that suit YOUR artistic needs. To see examples of various artist's palettes, and an explanation of how they use them, go to handprint.com and click on watercolor, then palettes, then palette paintings. Read the other articles there under palettes, too. P.S. unless your switching from water color to drawing, 4B and 6B ought to do... | ||
josie |
I have had two watercolor teachers...the first one gave us a basic palette which we all dutifully bought..the second one gave us yet another set of colors, mostly not repeats from the first teacher,and warning us not use Cotman, etc. and also turned up her nose at my using some American Journey paints. In between I went to a painting workshop and one of the teachers said American Journey paints were fine...then some folks say keep your colors together on your palette, but I have about 10 more colors than there are wells in my John Pike palette....bought 4B and 6 B pencils and now am told I need others...would someone give me some common sense advice about this...it's a mine field out there! jmreiners@aol.com |
