The Nugget Awards

I love teaching because I always come away with little nuggets (= cool stuff I didn't know about) that my students share with me. I taught last weekend, so I came away with a few more! So just like that, I decided to invent the Nugget Awards!

Nugget Award #1 goes to Lori W!

Lori mentioned how much she's loving 2 new watercolor paints she's recently bought.  One is Holbein Peach Black and the other is Daniel Smith's Green Gold.  I use Holbein Leaf Green but I'm going to have to add the Green Gold to my arsenal.  You can see how it can be useful in a less diluted form in the image below.  And Peach Black definitely has possibilities (although I'll never EVER use up all the blacks I already own. I just don't use black very often because it's such a dead color but this one has a little life to it). Do YOU have a favorite black, and do you like to use it straight??

Nugget Award #2?...Lori again!

Lori uses knitting needles to apply masking fluid! The Dollar Store carries them in a variety of sizes for pennies. Priceless! (why keep different sizes?  Because the bigger the needle, or twig in my case, the more masking fluid it holds and the bigger area you can cover).

And Nugget Award #3?  It goes to Claudia H.!

I always keep a value finder handy, especially as my painting nears The End.  Tell me which of these 2 looks you would prefer me to sport from now on!

These are VALUE FINDER GLASSES which are marketed to Quilters because who knew?....it's just as important to have strong values in your quilts as it is in your paintings!

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Tippette #32: Paint in the Dark (sometimes)

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Tippette #27 - Monochromatic Paintings

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

Monochromatic Paintings

I've touched on the fact that a strong painting is based on strong values.  (You may read that post HERE.)  In recent years, I questioned whether I relied on color too much.  Could I really see values at all?  Once I get a thought into my head, it won't leave me alone till I do something about it.  I decided to do a MONOCHROMATIC painting (which means using various shades of the same color).  That one led to others that I've since successfully painted.  I'll admit that it does make you think more when you're painting.  

Self-Portrait with my Izzy
This was painted on hot pressed paper which allowed me to lift out color very easily.
I'm only so-so happy with this one.  But it was my first attempt.

Each of these paintings measures 60" x 20".
They were actually done with acrylic ink, which I watered down.
They're painted on canvas and are varnished.
Because they're acrylic and not watercolor, I couldn't lift out my highlights and the planning stage was crucial.
The same paintings could have been done with watercolors on paper.

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

TWO Spots Left!

click HERE for details!

www.helenKbeacham.com 

Tippette #15 - Mixing the Right Values

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

In my April 13 POST, I touched on the subject of Value and promised I'd spend more time on the concept in a future post, so here we are.

Mixing the Right Values

Value refers to how dark or light a pigment is.  You use value to accomplish contrast.

High key:  When a painting is mostly done with pastel colors like this one.

Low key:  When mostly dark colors are used.

Some artists rely on as many as 10 values in their paintings.  I suggest you not worry too much about keeping up with that.  I do, however, think that you need at least 3 values.  You need lights, mediums and darks.  So let me show you how to quickly create each.

I like to tell my students that a "dark value" has the consistency of cream when you create your puddle.  The "middle value" has the consistency of 1% milk and the "light value" has the consistency of tea (very see-through).  Easy, right?  If I know I need all 3 values, I mix my dark first.  Then I pull part of it over to the right and I add a touch of water (with my brush) to slightly thin it out. Then I pull some of that second mixture on over to the right again, and add more water.  That's it!

Creating 3 values of French Ultramarine Blue

Below, I'm showing you how my 3 French Ultramarine Blue values look when painted first into clear water (wet into wet) in the top row, and painted on to dry paper (wet into dry) in the bottom row.  

Dark, Medium & Light Values
Row 1:  I wet the paper first.  Allows softer edges but the paint is also lighter than when painted on dry paper.
Row 2:  Painted onto dry paper.  Ends up with harder edges and resulting color is darker (or at least more solid) than in Row 1.

If you want things to look closer to you, paint them darker.  Conversely, things that are further away should be rendered with paler values.  All this supports the concept of aerial perspective (a future topic?).

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

Tippette #13 - Think VALUE...not COLOR.

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

We're almost halfway through our month of daily watercolor tippettes.  Do any of you have one that you'd like to share with my readers?  If so, write me and I'll give you credit!  Give me your tip, along with at least one image and I'll be extremely happy to share it with everyone here!  Now on to today's tippette:

Think VALUE...not COLOR.

When I demonstrate for my students, I often get asked what color I'm using to paint this or that.  It inevitably catches me off guard, because I don't think about the color as much as about what value I'm going to use. (Value refers to how dark or light the color is.)  You use value to accomplish contrast.  To make things look like they're receding into the background, use a lighter value for those things that are progressively further away.

Now, let's look at this black-and-white version of one of my paintings.  Without peeking at the image below it, try to envision which colors I've used to create this painting.  (For those of you that already "know" this painting, humor me!).  

Black-and-white of "Walk with Me" by Helen K Beacham

Could you tell that this is a sun-dappled path that leads from a somewhat shadowy, cool foreground to a sunny background?  Of course you can. Yet you have no idea what colors I've used.   So...what colors did I use? Green?  Yellow?  Brown?  Where did I place them? What other colors do you envision?  

Now let's scroll down and see the finished piece.  Are you surprised?  Why or why not?

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"Walk with Me" by Helen K Beacham

My painting holds together, not because of the colors I chose, but because the correct values were used in the right spots.  If you're concerned about whether your paintings have the right values, either use a photo-editing software to convert a photo of your painting to black-and-white (or grayscale), or you can take a black-and-white Xerox of it.  Then really study it to determine whether your painting holds together based on your values.

In a future tippette, I'll discuss how I mix my paint to accomplish values - See you right back here tomorrow!  And thanks for sharing my tippettes with your friends!  I've enjoyed meeting many of them!

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.

SUSAN JANE WALP at Tabor de Nagy Gallery

www.helenKbeacham.com

                             

Susan Jane Walp 

Pummelo with Scrunchie, Knife and Rice Cracker
2012
oil on linen
9 1/4 x 9 1/4 inches

I find it interesting that this artist, SUSAN JANE WALP, has chosen to feature her main characters with brighter color while keeping the rest of the painting almost bland or even monochromatic in some cases.  Was it out of a desire to get off easy on the backgrounds?  I say not.  It's almost more difficult to paint "without color"(relying on VALUE rather  than on color as a crutch).

Ms. Walp's most recent paintings will be featured at the TIBOR DE NAGY GALLERY in Midtown Manhattan, through November 24.  You can read more about her exhibition on this blog:  THOUGHTS THAT CURE RADICALLY

.www.helenKbeacham.com

Read my latest post!