Tippette #31: Mix up your Color Scheme

I recently added this Robax palette to my supplies and I'm loving it.  You add your paint to these little removable wells (they call them Liners).  

I used a Sharpie to write the brand and color name onto each (I tipped some over for you to see).  

I used to always use the same 20 colors because I'm comfortable mixing them to create new colors.  But at some point, I tired of the predictability of them. 

Robax allows me to pull out strange and new colors for each new painting, so that I stay engaged and excited about what's on my easel (table?)!

Robax palette
NOTE that there's a lid that goes on top of the whole palette.
Available from www.Robax.com

So, the way I handle this palette is to pull out the colors I'm going to try for today's painting, and I separate them into families on paper plates.  I write the name of the family onto the plate (Red, Blue, Green). Sometimes I pick up the wells and it makes it quicker and easier to drop them back on the right plate if I've written the color family on there.  I use the plates as big mixing areas.

THE ROBAX PALETTE is not inexpensive. You buy the liners separately from the lidded palette (total cost for this 85 well palette setup is currently around $98, but you can buy less than the 85 well size, for less money).  My artist friend, Carrie Waller, uses BEAD CONTAINERS to accomplish the same thing.  Do any of you have unique setups that you want to tell  us about? 

p.s. Did any of you notice the title of this post?  Remember the 30 Tippettes I shared with you in April of 2013? I figured I'd keep adding to them! Let me know you want more!

 www.helenKbeacham.com

Carrie Waller will do a workshop in the Charleston area this July (details HERE).

My Montreal workshop (Aug 9-16) is open for registration (details HERE).

SEE MY LATEST POST HERE.

A Visiting Celebrity

Yesterday I had the pleasure of hosting award-winning Carrie Waller in my studio!  Up until now, Carrie and I have just been Facebook friends (over and over, I must say I LOVE the networking that's possible for artists in today's world).  Carrie and I have been admiring each other's watercolors for a while.  When I read that she was going to be traveling from her home studio to Summerville, SC to visit family (!), I invited her to come paint with me for the day!  We chose a day when Anne, the artist that I mentor, would already be here with me.  And Patty, another artist who has studied with me in the past, was in town as well so she got the invite too!  We painted together for 5 hours.

From left:  Anne, Patty, me and Carrie Waller!

As our day went by, I noticed a marked difference between how Carrie tackles her paintings, and how I currently do.  Carrie starts in one area of her painting and brings it to an almost completed state before moving on to the next section.  She says that, by working in this way, she can determine early on if she's got the right formula to successfully complete the rest of the painting.  You can see in this example, how stunning that looks.  Carrie's a master at what she does!

Watercolor Work-in-Progress by Carrie Waller.
This is the painting she was working on yesterday!
These are glass orbs, filled with roses, suspended from overhead.
See Carrie's blog HERE.

I actually used to paint like this when I first started 30 years ago (painting one section at a time).   Once I started teaching though, I realized that my students ran into trouble when they used this method, for 2 reasons:

1.  At some point in the painting, my beginning students would want to interject some color that was not elsewhere in the painting.  It broke down the harmony of the finished piece.

2.  My students sometimes placed too much emphasis on the start of the piece (they'd start in a less important area so that they could "work up" their nerve for the focal area), and then by the time they got to the actual focal area, they lost that spark they started with and the overall painting suffered.

I never actually thought about this, but I guess that's how and why I developed my current style of painting (and teaching).  I start with an overall wash that sets the tone for the painting.  I decide ahead of time which colors I want to include in the painting, and they get used early on in thin washes (layers) over my drawing.  This immediately unifies my painting's "look".  The first layers then have a chance to glow through the subsequent transparent paint layers.  Here's a step by step of "The Swimming Hole" to illustrate what I mean:

This is my first wash, painted over my pencil sketch.  You can see some masking being used.

I start to paint a second layer, and continue like this over the whole painting.

This is pretty much what the second layer gives me.  Some areas have a third layer already added in this photo.  (Note: Some of the colors might look lighter because I photographed them on a different day in different lighting...)

"The Swimming Hole" (watercolor 22x30) by Helen K Beacham
In a Private Collection.

A special thank you to Carrie Waller for coming by!  I look forward to a future painting session, Carrie!

Come with me (Helen K. Beacham) and Kelly Medford to paint Venice this October...

Click HERE for details!

SEE MY LATEST POST HERE.

Tippette #6 - Painting Glass (by Carrie Waller)

Tippette = Snippet of a Tip (in watercolor).  One per day during April, right here!

You're about to be in for a treat!  Today's tippette is brought to you by none other than Carrie Waller, who recently interviewed me on her own blog...you may read it HERE. 

Painting Glass (by Carrie Waller)

When painting glass it is important to not think about what you are painting.  Instead, just think about painting the shapes and colors.  If you focus in, and really look at all the abstract shapes that make up the painting, you will have a much more successful end result.  If you’re having trouble doing this, you can create a view finder out of paper or mat board by cutting a small square into the center. Lay this over your reference photo or the area you are painting.  This helps you to see all the shapes and colors.   

I always start on one side of the paper and complete a section at a time, much like putting a puzzle together.  I establish my darkest values and lightest areas at the same time.  By doing this I am able to see if my painting is successful right from the beginning.  I have also recently begun using my Ipad, loaded with my reference photo, to paint from.  The Ipad enables you to zoom in on smaller areas and really see all the details, similar to the viewfinder method, but it’s also magnified with the Ipad.  It has really changed the way I paint.  

Step-by-step progression for "Spin the Bottle" by Carrie Waller Fine Art.
Visit www.CarrieWaller.blogspot.com

For this painting titled “Spin the Bottle”, I used  a palette of Daniel Smith watercolors: Quinapthalone yellow, for the lightest areas mixed with a little Sap Green, Green Gold was used for the body of the bottle. Undersea Green is layered on the body of the bottle to create the shapes and reflections in the glass and a combination of Indigo and Sepia were used in the darkest areas. Painted on Arches 260 lb cold press paper.

(Today's words of wisdom and image by Carrie Waller.  My thanks to her!)

Come with Helen K. Beacham and Kelly Medford to paint Venice this October...

click HERE for details!

www.helenKbeacham.com

READ MY LATEST POST HERE.