Mastering Color

[Richard Robinson]

Anything to do with the Mastering Color course goes here. Post your images up or ask questions - anything!

[terry clare]

Gail, There was a time way back then here in Sydney when artists were at such pains to lose edges that it was a competition to see who could go the furtherest without without losing the subject completely. It was just the hot or cold aspect of the tones that suggested any thing existed at all. Great fun for painters who where looking for another challenge. Another was fog paintings where the edges were degrees of softness, and greys were spectral. Hard to do because the subject was so fleeting but great fun for the spectators of which I was one then. Good to do on dull wet days, Terry
Gail Runciman-Nicholls said:

Hi Ro & Terry,
Terry - I think your comment to Roena on "The lost edges I mentioned, were in fashion once" is still valid.
I like to use lost edges even in landscape and still life. It is a great way to add depth and keep the eye on the focal point.

[terry clare]

Roey, WYSIWYG..an old computer lingo for what you see is what you get. Talking art is probably the hardest to do. A picture is worth a thousand words, and not all of them were intended by the artist. "Art speak" is another University course you need after you learn painting. Lies, deceit and exageration are all about the Emporers clothes, and are the realm of Gallery Directors. You just let that go over your head. Provenance is now as important for a painting as is a spectacular picture so a story now has to go on the back of the painting. Robbo puts his on the front sometimes...interestingk. Most successful artists are members of a small tight supportive group who exhibit together. I think you have started your own home grown group already. Get them to paint quality art as well as yourself and exhibit together, then call yourself the Texas school or something. A web site helps. Don't run...walk with purpose and enjoy the journey...you are an artist afterall, Don't let anyone hurry the process, Terry
Roena King said:

Terry I want to thank you for all the information you have given to me. Plein air on the other hand, is WYSIWYG What does WYS|WYG mean? I am very excited and can hardly wait til I can get to the store to buy some more fruit/veg/?? to paint! LOL Ro
terry clare said:

,
This painting Ro, is good enough to sell as it is. You want to go a step further to improve the 3D without adding the touch of colour or with black and white. A change in composition maybe. Ambition is such a wonderful thing. A need for 3D is 3/4 angle lighting on the subject either behind or frontal and a more receding ground shape maybe a corner or something, with the fruit overlapping in front and behind, and if possible not round. Find some apples with planes. The lost edges I mentioned, were in fashion once, sorry about that one. One of the backgrounds has only to be the same tone as one or two of the edges. The advantage of still life is you can arrange everything to suit. Plein air on the other hand, is WYSIWYG to which though you can import your still life effects later for interest. I like to think of your pears as, See no evil, Hear no evil, Speak no evil, but don't get juice everywhere when you eat me. Great job, Terry
Roena King said:

Thanks for the comments VERY MUCH Iwan and Terry......Great......now lets talk art! Terry, I have never done a close up such as this before. The middle pear has the other pear's stems pointing toward it, and it was the lightest so I made that the subject by sharpening up the edges of the center pear and softening the edges other two. I am not sure "WHICH" edges to lose on such a close up. Please be very specific. .............. Also, This was an exercise in compressed values so my background was as light as I could make it-value 7, but then I added some of the lighest white toward the end behind the pears trying to make them just show up. COMMENTS on the background please............. I also think I "should have the lightest side of the back on the left and the darkest on the right as the light was more behind my left shoulder/head height. It was daytime, but I did try to cover up all the lights from windows and all so that the spot light was the only real light to consider.
..........To me, this is just a OK painting. I want it to have PUNCH and when it pops up on the screen everyone will go.....wow. It is not that, and I dont know what I need to do to make it do that!!!! Any ideas? Ro
terry clare said:

Just too beautiful, and you enjoyed it as well. Can you do it for me again and again Ro to reinforce it, with variations off course, then you will automatically remember it when you add some colour. How about some lost edges as well, Terry
Iwan Warega said:

If you add any colors to these fruits ,I'm taking a bite.

Roena King said:

Hi, I have done another gray scale painting. I think I am really enjoying doing them too. Richard, this is my attempt at compressing the values to 3-4-5-6-7 and reserving the 1 and 9 until the very last. Am I even close to achieving the compressing idea? I would appreciate some comments, and I would encourage others to post here too. Thanks, Ro

[terry clare]

Roey, I just remembered. Forgot about painting outside the picture plane. Bananas are good for that. Great for 3D, Hope you haven't been to the shop yet, Terry
Roena King said:

So Gail, WHICH EDGES would you suggest to apply the lost edges to? Can you be more specific? I think I have used the lost edges in landscapes, but I did not know what to do with such a closeup as I have never painted anything like this before. Thanks, Ro
Gail Runciman-Nicholls said:

Hi Ro & Terry,
Terry - I think your comment to Roena on "The lost edges I mentioned, were in fashion once" is still valid.
I like to use lost edges even in landscape and still life. It is a great way to add depth and keep the eye on the focal point.

[Roena King]

Terry, that is way to funny - love it - WYS|WYG - That is my art alright. In my part of the planet it is time to hit the sack. Catch you on the flip side. Ro

[Gail Runciman-Nicholls]

Hi Ro,
I think lost edges are something each individual artist has to decide for themselves where, when and how to place them in a work of art.
I am including one of my paintings just to show you where I've used it in this particular work.

If you look at the horse's hip - from the point of the ear, down to where the saddle bag starts, the edges starts to blend into the light of the background.
If this pix is too small - I'll upload it into the gallery.
Hope this helps. I'll have a look at my still-life work to find an example too. :-))

[Roena King]

Terry, I bought bananas, but they did not make it home! I have done a painting of a yellow onion. This exercise was from RR suggestions to pick any 5 values and paint as the limiting values make for stronger paintings. So my painting is values 9-7-5-3-1 which gives a full range. I had never tried a really dark background before either so WYS|WYG. lol Oh, I tried for some lost and found edges too. /// I knew about reflected light ON the object, but I had never noticed the reflected light in the shadow cast from the object into the shadow before. The reflected light on both the object in the shadow area and in the cast shadow area are quite bright.

[terry clare]

Hi Ro, Well you have definately got this up there in the same catagory as your pears. Nice work around edges too. Good composition. Funny how you notice more variations with practise. Seeing like an artist only happens after close obsevation, constant analysis and investigation. Artists make good policemen. Some edges can sometimes show 2 or 3 values. I wonder what RR thinks of this, maybe he might suggest you next try to simplify the subject. Not as busy. Fewer brush strokes. Thicker paint maybe. You might even add a bit of suggestive colour to the tones. The canvas underneath is is bit noticable. Have you thought about puting your full name in. There are a few Kings here and I'm sure some R Kings. Do you think your signature would look better a bit greyer. I never use a canvas with less than 3 coats of gesso, otherwise the paint skids when you add turps or medium. How would it look with a 3/4 angle lighting coming from behind over the top of the box. You can get a good 3D sculptural effect with thin paint in the background and thick on the centre of interest mainly the lights up to highlights. Check out Rembrandt, only he dosen't paint bananas. Well I like it so much I am tempted to try a brown tonal still life with colour tints myself. It's definately getting interesting, Keep on Roewing, Terry
Roena King said:

Terry, I bought bananas, but they did not make it home! I have done a painting of a yellow onion. This exercise was from RR suggestions to pick any 5 values and paint as the limiting values make for stronger paintings. So my painting is values 9-7-5-3-1 which gives a full range. I had never tried a really dark background before either so WYS|WYG. lol Oh, I tried for some lost and found edges too. /// I knew about reflected light ON the object, but I had never noticed the reflected light in the shadow cast from the object into the shadow before. The reflected light on both the object in the shadow area and in the cast shadow area are quite bright.

[Roena King]

Terry, Looks like I have your mind whirling with thoughts and ideas! LOL GREAT! I have signed my name as R.King for 30 years and I hate to change as I believe people recognize art and the artist by their signature sometimes. I have a lot of art out there. // I found this onion to be hard and stressful….so I would take stress breaks (he he), then it finally fell into place. // The canvas does not show through in the original painting like it does here in the photo. For the exercises I just did not take the time or use up my gesso to coat the canvas. I will try my best to remember for my paintings since you think it will improve the work. / / THE LIGHT….My work area is very limited as my studio is the kitchen table in the motor home with a “clip light” attached to the window cornice board. It is not movable except up higher or down a little lower or I might be able to place it almost over head. I will look at that. // Oh please, Terry, I encourage you to do a painting in brown tone and “post it here”. I am beginning to feel like I am the only one going through this color course at the moment! I would feel better if someone else would post beside me!// Terry, I go by Ro – because I am a sailor and I never row my boat! He he ///// I sent my painting to another friend who gave me this comment. When I looked at my B&W photo of the set up, and really paid attention, I could see the values per his statement. Here is a photo and the statement to ponder upon. ........ a good thing to keep in mind is keep your lights all in one section of the gray scale, & your shadows in the other. eg. the darkest light will always be lighter than the lightest shadow which includes reflected light in shadow.

[Gail Runciman-Nicholls]

Hi Ro,
For me, I would have lost the edge on #3 where the light is just behind the neck of the pear on the right side. Much the same on #1 - just make it look like reflected light just creeping onto the edges - effectively at the same tonal value as the light in the background.
Hope I am making sense here. It doesn't have to be dramatic - just softened out to nothing where the two meet on the paper.

[Gail Runciman-Nicholls]

Hi Guys,
well it seems I have a bit of catching up to do here! We're talking pears; I go away for a few days and we're talking ONIONS! lol!!
My last comment was for the pears Ro, but it seems we have moved on.
I plan to join you with the onions too. Just bought new supplies while away!

[Roena King]

I understand Gail, I will do that - soften the edges on pears #1 and #3. Thanks. // Oh boy, now I am excited to have someone else going through the class with me. I started watching the chapter 5 on the DVD and see that the next step is to start painting color cubes in c o l o r! Woooo Hooooo! Ro

[terry clare]

Ro, You know I was thinking the same thing the other day,that not many of us are following the lessons properly, but just picking out the parts we think we are short on, and posting that. Well I know I have been. So I am off to the shop asap and will attack my version and best attempt of what I can possibly achieve as a masterly painting at what I think my favorite food should look like to other artists using Richards lessons. Back to earth, keep it simple, nose to the grindstone, back to the drawing board and out with the chalk and slate board, to put my ego up on the wall so the uneducated peasants and grimy passers bye can cast the odd unpleasant honest common opinion that is so cutting to us good artists who are so sensitive and scarce. To be honest though the only thing that hurts me these days, at my age, is a smack on the snout and even then it's the humility that hurts and not the wack, after I've wiped the tears from my eyes. My upload here is a practise on 6 coloured lights on 6 local colours. Not that accurate but great fun, Terry
Roena King said:

Terry, Looks like I have your mind whirling with thoughts and ideas! LOL GREAT! I have signed my name as R.King for 30 years and I hate to change as I believe people recognize art and the artist by their signature sometimes. I have a lot of art out there. // I found this onion to be hard and stressful….so I would take stress breaks (he he), then it finally fell into place. // The canvas does not show through in the original painting like it does here in the photo. For the exercises I just did not take the time or use up my gesso to coat the canvas. I will try my best to remember for my paintings since you think it will improve the work. / / THE LIGHT….My work area is very limited as my studio is the kitchen table in the motor home with a “clip light” attached to the window cornice board. It is not movable except up higher or down a little lower or I might be able to place it almost over head. I will look at that. // Oh please, Terry, I encourage you to do a painting in brown tone and “post it here”. I am beginning to feel like I am the only one going through this color course at the moment! I would feel better if someone else would post beside me!// Terry, I go by Ro – because I am a sailor and I never row my boat! He he ///// I sent my painting to another friend who gave me this comment. When I looked at my B&W photo of the set up, and really paid attention, I could see the values per his statement. Here is a photo and the statement to ponder upon. ........ a good thing to keep in mind is keep your lights all in one section of the gray scale, & your shadows in the other. eg. the darkest light will always be lighter than the lightest shadow which includes reflected light in shadow.