Back to Basics

After an evening of research and contemplation, I really decided that I wasn't happy with the way I was mixing colors. I couldn't quite put my finger on just what I didn't like about it, I just knew that the color notes (value, hue and chroma or intensity)were not what I wanted--but more importantly were not what I was seeing.
Why (there's that pesky word again) was I not putting down what I was seeing? I think it's was/is a combination of two things.

First, I want to capture the light and paint fast. Anyone that paints plein air knows you have to paint fast. So I mixed a color note that was possibly in the family of colors I was seeing and put it down. But as of last night I wasn't sure that I was really even in the color family.

Second, my studio where I can take time to mix and is not remotely like painting outside regardless of the fact that I have Ott lights throughout it was making me see things differently!! But is a color note a color note regardless of being in my studio or painting outside?

Well--let's prove that. So today, which got off to a delayed start, was devoted to mixing colors outside. That's it--no painting on a canvas board--no pressure to capture fleeting light. I stood outside in the brilliant sunlight and with my trusty paint chips in hand began mixing colors to match the paint chips. These chips can be snatched from any paint store. You know the ones--the strips that have five colors all in the same color family. Before heading outside, I grabbed a random lot of colors from my collection of chips. Then, stood there and mixed colors.

This is a wonderful exercise and I can't say enough about doing this. My frustration is stemming from the fact that my colors are too intense. Mixing to the paint chips made me add in the complements or white to grey down my colors. I didn't stop at "That's close enough." Nope--it had to be exact and when it was only then did it get the honor of being put on a cheap canvas board for future reference.
Toward the end of the session, I was running low on blue. I work from a limited palette of Yellow, blue and red (and white--more on that at another time). I mixed up a green trying to match another paint chip--but I decided that I wouldn't put anymore blue in my pochade box and just push the green with some leftover dark "mud" (blue/purple). I mixed in complements, white and just put swatch of the colors I was mixing next to the other. I mixed some oranges, reds, and placed those in the line. I stepped back looking at the range of colors I had mixed over the hours in the sunlight. I studied the effect the sun had on the colors (my pochade and canvas are shaded with an umbrella when standing in brilliant sunlight)and how my eye interrupted them. I studied what happened when I put one dark value next to a light value, a complement color next to another. Did I mix any medium values?...Were they really in the mid range of the color family?

I realized that I wasn't painting what I was seeing in the previous sessions. I was painting to try and paint fast and that didn't accomplish anything--except frustration and a return to basics. I know my say that they don't like wasting paint this way--but believe me, with what you learn this is not a waste. I paint with inexpensive paints when I'm plein air painting anyway, and since this exercise can be done close to your studio or home, you can take a disposable palette with you to freeze any paints you mix up and want to keep. Or better yet, empty tubes that you fill with the paints you mix to be used in your studio later.

Believe me, what you will learn about what you are mixing and what you are seeing is worth the couple of hours you will spend mixing outside. It's a great way to get re-calibrated to painting outside and seeing outside. After I had a number of greens painted, I walked around my yard and held the paint brush with the color note on it next to the foliage of different plants. Was it warmer or cooler? What would I add to get to that color? Make a mental note.

The last test--I packed up my gear and headed down to the studio. How far off was my studio Ott lights. Surprisingly--not that far off. I do need to get some warm lights to offset the coolness of the Ott lights. That's easy enough to fix. But the biggest difference was that I was pressing to paint fast and just accepting any color I mixed. Now is the time to break that bad habit. If you use studies to paint from in your studio--the color notes are most important part of that study.
That was an understatement. As Kevin Macpherson says--"That first color note is the most important." That is so true! It sets the tone for the whole painting. If it's wrong-the painting will not be what you see.

I may just spend the day mixing colors tomorrow. Practice makes perfect and if I mix the colors right, I have a better chance to paint faster. And now I know I can afford to add the complement colors to grey down the intensity and not to be afraid to do so.

Try this exercise, you may be surprised how much you've strayed after a length of time in your studio.

Ciao,
Linda