The language of color

By now you should realize that there are more than 3 primary colors.  The color theory by Albert Henry Munsell is the standard.

Munsell's small book is available from the Chicago Public Library.  He uses 3 color terms.  The first is Hue, the color itself.  The primary hues are Red, Yellow, Green, Blue and Purple.  By adding Black and White you would have a complete palette.

Value is the lightness of the color.  Some authors use the terms, tone for the addition of white to the hue and tint for the addition of black.

Chroma is the purity of the hue.  Having been trained as a scientist, I immediately think of saturation or intensity.

In his book he gives a simple description of the system.  Imagine your hand with your fingers closed so that all of the finger tips come together.  Holding your hand vertically, the knuckles represent the primary colors, R, Y,G, B, and P.  As you move towards the finger tips you add white to the colors until you reach pure white (a theoretical threshold) as you move down to the wrist you add black to the colors until your reach pure black.  This model presents a three dimensional color chart.

Munsell's system works great.  It helps me conceptualize the process of mixing colors and opens the door to placing the color on the ground (canvas, paper or whatever).  There are some wonderful products for the Munsell system.  The most expensive is the Munsell color chips, I've seen a full set and it is beautiful and pricey.  I use a color wheel by Jill Ridder, www.jillrider.com  The exterior of the wheel has the common color names, Vermilion, Cadmium Red and so on, the circular spinner is funnel shaped to show the analogous colors, the  two discords and compliment.  For instance, Vermilion, has discords that are between Violet + Magenta and Emerald Green + Phthalo Green with a compliment between Cobalt Blue + Phthalo Blue.  The painter uses these discords and compliment to punch up her painting.

This works great, except that when you go to the local Art store, you do not find colors labeled with Munsell color names.  Some paint manufacturers do list the Munsell information in their website, bless them, but it is a tough search.  To further complicate matters, our computer screens do not mix colors the way we artists do and the Munsell system is not represented adequately on line.  Simply put the Vermilion shown on the screen is not the Vermilion squeezed from the tube.

There are other standards, C.I., Colour Index International and ASTM, American Society Testing Materials.  These standards present a code for instance NR1, meaning natural red number 1, or PR1, pigment red number 1.  It is these standards that are very specific down to the formula for the pigment in your hand.  No longer does the artist have to rely on an inexact historical descriptive name to purchase color.

Finally, if I am seeking Alizarin Crimson, PR83, http://www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/waterr.html tells me that there are 6 true pigments manufactured and a lake and a hue both are versions of the true color.  This is not to say that a lake or hue is bad, but if you are painting with PR83 and switch brands mid-painting (horrors) a lake or hue is not the same color.  Handprint laboriously tested all of the watercolors available and compiled them with all of the information.  Thank you Handprint!

Here be dragons, beginning color

If you review the earlier posts you'll see the evolution of my palettes, evolution of my style with my selfies and more importantly the list of web resources on Art.

When I began this journey in 2010 my goal was to learn to paint a realist figure using watercolor paint.  I wanted the paint to be transparent and to achieve their final color through overlapping layers of paint.  I later learned about glazing. I want my final palette to be the same across binders.  The binder is the substance that holds the pigment together, Gum Arabic for watercolor, GAC for acrylic.  Allow me to remind you, my final goal "famous artist" is not to be a realistic figure or portrait painter. Rather I see the ability to create a realistic figure to be a test of ability, a litmus test. What I plan to do is a form of abstraction, but more about that later.

All new painters make the same assumptions

• The basic colors, AKA primary colors are a triad
• You go to the store and buy a bunch of colors and smear them around and you're done
• The store has competent advice
• The manufacturers all produce the same color, Cadmium Red Medium, for example, is the same from manufacturer to manufacturer.

Consider this painting, my first for 2016.  The colors are: Titanium White, Bone Black (Yes they're colors) three blues, Yellow Ochre, Vermillion, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Cadmium Yellow light, Cadmium Red Medium and Cadmium Yellow full.

When you look at the painting and try to count the colors you will count more colors than those listed above.  Obviously, you are sophisticated and realize that in order to achieve color harmony blending the colors listed above will provide a harmonious palette and add to the quality of the final product.

As to the four assumptions, all are incorrect.  When it comes to color all of the names are incorrect.  More gently, my ultramarine blue is PB29, yours may not be.  Go ahead and check.


As to the four assumptions, all four are incorrect.  There are 5 primary colors, 7 counting Black and White, PBlk11 and PW6 specifically.

Internet resources

I assume that you have sites and blogs that you use. like my bookshelf these are sites that I use regularly.  If you haven't discovered RSS readers, a blog reader, I like Feedly https://feedly.com/i/welcome

On color and palettes, in no certain order
http://www.paintmaking.com/traditional_palette.htm
http://colourlex.com/
A phenomenal achievement  http://www.artiscreation.com/Color%20of%20Art.html
The Munsell system https://www.rit.edu/cos/colorscience/rc_faq_all.php
A wonderful idea http://www.colorhunter.com/

For your aesthetic
 http://www.artbabble.org/
Bert Christianson http://bertc.com/index.html
https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
https://www.google.com/culturalinstitute/project/art-project
http://www.artic.edu/mobilefront

On technique
The mind behind Dinotopia http://gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/2015/03/five-tips-from-carl-evers.html
A master of egg tempera http://www.kooschadler.com/index.htm
A phenomenal achievement by this artist http://handprint.com/HP/WCL/water.html

Blogs I read daily
Contemporary Art daily
Muddy colors
A plein air painters blog
A/art
Arrested motion
Street Art utopia
Urban sketchers
Watercolors
Watercolors and words

What's on the bookshelf?

I love to read.  There are certain books that if stuck on a desert island I'd have with me.

The Art spirit by Robert Henri.  Henri was a pivotal artist and teacher at the Art students league in NYC during the Armory show.  This is a bedside book, a book that you read regularly.

Alla prima, everything I know about painting by Richard Schmid.  Schmid is the master painter of Contemporary Realism and the rock god for the oil painters at the Pallet and Chisel in Chicago.

Light for the artist by Ted Seth Jacobs, a complete discussion on light.

Breaking the rules of watercolor by Burt Silverman, watercolor painting has a number of shibboleths, Silverman breaks each one and explains the hows and whys.  I re-read this book regularly.

Painting from life, explorations in watercolor by Douglas Lew, Lew traces his exploration chronologically.  It is on every watercolorist's bookshelf.

Curatorial care of works of art on paper by Anne F. Clapp, it reads like a dissertation and it is the only book on the subject.

Frames and framing, the ultimate illustrated how-to-do-it guide by Gerald F. Laird and Louise Meiere Dunn, CPF, the title says it all.

Ceanne's composition by Erle Loran.  I've had this book all of my adult life.  Loran takes some of Cezanne's paintings, breaks them down into geometric form and ties Cezanne's writing on the subject to the exploration, in addition Loran photographed the landscape chosen by the artist so that the reader can see exactly what Cezanne modified.

This book published in 1943 is part of a series by the University of California press.  I've seen others in this series, on other artists, all are excellent.

Perspective! for comic book artists and Extreme perspective! for artists by David Chelsea, a complete exploration of the topic.

A good source for books, Powell's bookstore in Portland, Oregon.  A massive warehouse of used books at good prices.  BTW related to the Powell's bookstore here in Chicago, unfortunately their inventory isn't related.

Here's what I can do, self portraits over time

As you can see, I've learned a little bit.  The first was completed in 2011 the last 2015.  The last one is Acrylic done in layers of paint, GAC 100, paint, etc about 6 iterations.

Organization

As I write this blog, I will organize it into broad categories: color, technique, artists and materials.  I have over 5 years of notes on these subjects while I learned how to paint.  Look at the post heading to see the category.

Reviewing my notes, I have extensive information on color and pigments.  I'm working on breaking this down to manageable bits.

Paint more,

michael

My palette

2011

Cadmium Red, Cadmium Yellow, Cerulean Blue for flesh and Alizarin Crimson, Raw Sienna and Ultramarine Blue for dark flesh.  I also used Hooker’s Green in the dark mixture.

2012

I expanded my palette for landscape and floral painting

Alizarin Crimson, Quinacridone Rose, Transparent Red Oxide, Neutral, Ultramarine Blue, Manganese Blue Hue, Phthalocyanine Blue, Turquoise, Gamboge, Hansa Yellow, Azo Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Sap Green, Phthalo Green, Hooker’s Green, Viridian Green, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Raw Sienna and Burnt Sienna.

2013

Cadmium Red, Alizarin Crimson, Cadmium Yellow, Gamboge, Naples Yellow, Cerulean Blue, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Terra Verte, Dioxazine Purple, Raw Sienna, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Vandyke Brown, Davy’s Gray, Lamp Black, Antique White.

2014

A natural palette

Lazurite, Nicosia Green, Yellow Ochre, Aureolin, Vermillion, Hematite, Burnt Umber, Barite, Bone Black.

2015

The Zorn limited palette for flesh

Cadmium Yellow, Yellow Ochre, Red Sienna, Cadmium Red, Vermillion, Red Oxide, Alizarin Crimson, Quinacridone Rose, Quinacridone Magenta, Cobalt Blue, Ultramarine Blue, Kings Blue, Indanthrene Blue, Perylene Green, Green/Gold, Viridian, Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Bone  Black and Titanium White.

2016 definately transparent

Anthraquinone Red PR177, Flaventhrone PY24, Indo Double Scarlett PR197, Indo Blue PB60, Phthalo Blue Green PB15.3, Phthalo Green Blue PG7, Red Hot HFT PR 175, Transparent Mars Black PBlk11, Transparent Titanium White PW6, Transparent Quinacridone Yellow PV19, Yellow Gold PY42 and Anthraquinone Violet PV29.