Painting / under painting

Painting.

During these session we explored a range of different painting mediums and processes.

We have used:

• Gouache - a water-based painting medium that is ideal for flat, strong colours (graphic designers use this as a preference because of this)
• Acrylic - Another water based painting medium that is slightly less viscous than Gouache and is ideal for larger paintings.  
• Oil - an oil based painting medium.  This can be thinned with turps (turpentine or white spirit*) or linseed oil.     Using linseed oil maintains the paint colour better than turps as this can dilute the colour.  Oil paint cannot be mixed with water, as the oil and water will separate. 

 *these are highly flammable and corrosive so contact with skin and eyes should be avoided (although a small amount on hands won't do any harm - unless you have sensitive skin (such as eczema)

 Equipment.

Brushes - We have used two different types of brushes.

Sable.

Sable brushes have soft bristles and are commonly used for watercolour, Gouache and Acrylic painting.  They hold water well, which makes them great for creating washes of colour as well as for more detailed work.




Hog-hair.

Hog hair brushes have tougher bristles and are ideal for acrylic and oil painting








Under painting.

http://artopiamagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/16-9484.jpg

An underpainting is an initial painting that artists produce to establish tonal values of the subject prior to applying colour.  This usually begins with a general wash of Yellow Ochre mixed with a little Burnt Umber thinned down with Turpentine (white spirit) as a ground (the surface on which the paint is applied).  It is important that the paint does not create any kind of texture when applied, as this initial painting will disappear once colour is applied.  A combination of Burnt Umber and Yellow Ochre is then used to identify to tonal values of the piece.

This under painting is an extremely useful process by which the painter can analyse tonal contrast, shape and form, before concerning themselves with colour mixing and application.  Colour can then be gradually built up on top of this.

We looked at fabric, using oil paint, to create a ground and then an initial underpainting.  As the fabric was white, it was important to also consider the contrast between this and the darker background.  The dark tones in the background (as seen below) has created a stronger sense of depth and enabled the artists to emphasise the lighter, subtle tonal variations within the white fabric.

Portraiture

Colour

understanding the basics of Colour.

Over these two weeks we have looked at colour, what it is, how it works and the basic principles of colour.

Issac Newton discovered that by shining white light through a prism, you could separate this into the colour spectrum.







(http://architeckne.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/prism-02.png)

From this, Newton created what is known as the colour wheel, categorising colour into three categories- Primary, Secondary, and Tertiary colours.









(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Boutet_1708_color_circles.jpg)

Primary Colours.

These are Red, Yellow, and Blue; colours that cannot be made by any combination of other colours.



Secondary Colours.

These are the colours that are created by a combination of two primary colours.

Red + Yellow = Orange
Yellow + Blue = Green
Red + Blue = Purple

Note that there is only one secondary colour from the combination of the two primary colours.  These secondary colours are pure colours in their own right, an equal visual balance of the two primary colours, where neither of the two primary colours are dominant.

Tertiary Colours.

There are, of course, a vast range of variations of colours between the primary and its secondary.  These are known as tertiary colours. For example, red-orange, yellow-orange, blue-purple, and so on.

Complimentary Colours.

In colour theory complementary colours appear opposite each other on colour models such as the colour wheel. The colour complement of each primary colour (primaries are red, yellow and blue) can be obtained by mixing the two other primary colours together. So the complementary of red is green (a mix of yellow and blue); the complementary of blue is orange (a mix of red and yellow); and the complementary of yellow is violet (a mix of red and blue).

(http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/c/complementary-colours)

Complimentary colours have been used by many artists over the centuries (especially the Impressionists) to draw attention to particular objects, or to maximise the effect of a particular landscape.

Impression, sunrise, by Claude Monet, 1872.   Which complimentary colours have been used?  How does this impact on the painting? 

Van Gogh: Six Sunflowers, 1888.  Van Gogh has used lots of contrasting colours to to define shape and colour.

Tints and Shades.

When we observe colour in our world the light source has another impact on colour.  The colour could be a secondary orange, for example, but could be a lighter or darker as the light hits its surface.  A lighter version of a colour is known as a tint (with white), and a darker colour known as a shade (with black).  A tone of a colour is a colour with grey.

(http://patsysmiles.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Tints-Shades-and-Tones.png)