MC_06_ManipulatingColor.pdf

Richard Robinson's

Mastering Color

[Chapter 6]

Manipulating Color

Oils

Large palette - larger than A3 size is

good. An A2 sized glass palette is ideal.

Brushes of any size.

Painting medium for oils like Liquin or

Chroma Archival Classic Medium.

Palette Knife.

Colors as recommended throughout the

lesson.

Acrylics

Large stay-wet palette - A3 or bigger is good.

Brushes of any size.

Retarding Medium to slow the drying of your

paints.

Water spray bottle for keeping your paints wet.

Palette Knife.

Colors as recommended throughout the

lesson.

Get these art supplies discounted online - click here:

http://www.livepaintinglessons.com/art_supplies.php

Expressing yourself with Color

Once we've learned the process of seeing, analyzing and mixing color as we see it, the next stage in our

development is to be able to bend color and value to our creative will. In muscial terms, we've learned

to play the scales and chords and can even play songs that others have written (copying other

paintings or photographs), but now we want to make our own music.

We are again faced with the blank canvas, and as with music, we want to create a piece which expresses

something. Perhaps it's the beauty of color you want to express, or the subtlety of light, the wonder of

the natural world, the perfection of a tree or flower, or the grandeur of a mountain. Whatever it is you

want to say, the way you purposefully orchestrate your colors and values is going to determine how

powerfully your work will express your vision.

For instance, in this painting "after the storm" the colors are helping to tell the story. I found this old

boat washed up after a storm on our beach. I loved how old and at peace the boat looked after it's

ordeal in the storm. I chose a grey color scheme to refer to the storm and the colorless look of weather

beaten surfaces. I kept the values throughout very similar with few sharp contrasts to give a feeling of

peace, knowing that strong contrasts would produce a sense of dynamism and action - imagine a

smoothly flowing soft peace of music compared to a chaotic piece with jolting contrasts in volume and

ryhthym.

I could just as easily have increased the value contrast and the intensified the chroma and ended up

with a more dynamic looking painting, but it would be further from the true expression of my feelings

about the scene and the mood I was wanting to create.

Richard Robinson's

Manipulating Color

Mastering Color

[Chapter 6]

"After the Storm" - oil on canvas - 30x40"

...with higher chroma colors which do not suit

the story I'm trying to express.

Let's look at another way you might choose to manipulate color. For instance, this beach scene is

beautiful in itself, but I wanted to intensify the colors and contrast to express the vibrant experience of

being there on the beach.

Photograph of Ruakaka Beach

...painted with higher chroma colors which do

help to express my vision.

How did I do that? I used higher chroma mixtures rather than graying them down to match the real

colors. That took care of the color, and then to increase the value contrast I simply made the dark areas

even darker, but made sure to keep the chroma high at the same time. Remember how to make high

chroma colors? Just use colors straight out of the tube, or if you do have to mix them, use colors that are

as close as possible to each other on the color wheel.

Pushing color like this can be quite tricky because it's hard enough to get a scene to look like it

normally does, without trying to alter it. It's easy to do this by first manipulating photos in photo

editing software like photoshop or paintshop pro and then painting from that resource. Another easy

Richard Robinson's

Manipulating Color

Mastering Color

[Chapter 6]

way is to paint the scene as it normally is and then paint a second painting based on the first but with

alterations to the color and contrast. What I sometimes do is a mixture of these two methods where I

will paint the scene normally, then photograph or scan it into the computer where I can play with the

colors, and then paint another painting using the new altered image as my resource.

A muted painting

...color enhanced in photoshop

...and painted again.

However you do it, the important thing to get right is the relationships between the colors. For

instance, if I had made the sky lower chroma like this then it would have looked out of place above it's

high chroma neighbors. If I had made the rest of the painting lower chroma too, the sky would be fine.

The Painting

...with JUST the sky made lower

chroma it looks out of place.

...with chroma lowered over the

WHOLE painting it looks ok.

We've talked before about the individual colors needing to be in correct relationship with their

neighbors, but this is more about whole sections of the painting. It's amazing how often we're tempted

to break this 'rule' though and beginners often get this wrong in the attempt to make their painting

look more vibrant. Let's say I am working on a painting of a beach for instance (I do like beaches), and

I'm thinking 'oh, the water looks a bit gray today, but I'll just paint that a more intense blue so it looks

nicer'. Well it's going to look like someone spilled blue paint on the beach because it doesn't fit in with

its surroundings. Sometimes you may want to use a high chroma spot to your advantage in the centre

of interest, but the trick to increasing the vibrancy or chroma of a whole painting is to change ALL the

colors in the painting, not just a few of them.

Richard Robinson's

Manipulating Color

Mastering Color

[Chapter 6]

Photograph of Ruakaka Beach

...with the chroma raised in ONLY the water,

it looks out of place.

Here's a high chroma study I did.

High chroma painting by Henry Hensche.

To teach yourself to change the overall chroma, do the following exercise - as many times as you need

to feel comfortable with the process…

Exercise #1: Increasing Chroma

Print the dull blue cube from page 5 of the lesson notes, construct it and set it up as in previous cube

exercises. Now paint a small study of it just as it is, but increase the chroma to as high as you can make

it so that the cube almost glows with the intense color. Remember to keep the value, hue and chroma

relationships the same - just push all of the chroma up.

Richard Robinson's

Manipulating Color

Mastering Color

[Chapter 6]

Painter's Cube

Print in high quality mode on photopaper

for best results.

1. Use a ruler and blade.

2. Cut around the outside.

3. Score ( very lightly cut) dotted lines.

4. Fold on dotted lines.

5. Glue on tabs.

6. Assemble slowly.

7. Relax! Enjoy the therapy.

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