Black Can Be Used

   This entry was originally posted on Thursday, March 8, 2012 

Black watercolor can be used at times.

It is best to use black mixed with other colors to just push it over the edge if you are having a hard time getting the darkness that you desire. 

There are even some watercolors that already have black in the mix.

Indigo is a beautiful rich blue that has black as one of its components. 

 

A Rich, Velvety Black

  This entry was originally posted on Thursday, March 8, 2012 

Another option for black is to mix your three primary colors.

One of my favorite blacks is just that.

It is Winsor Blue (green shade) mixed with Permanent Alizarin Crimson or Permanent Rose with just a tiny bit of Aureolin or Winsor Yellow. 

Too much yellow will make the mix brown and muddy looking. I use just enough yellow to neutralize the purple of the Winsor Blue with the Alizarin Crimson. Of course it is easiest to get this black with fresh paint.

Since it is made with staining colors it is difficult to work with. This black does not lift easily. But it is so rich and yummy. 

I used this black (and grey) for the painting below and created such wonderful drama.

 

 

Lifting Paint

  This entry was originally posted on Wednesday, March 7, 2012 

Just a little tip about lifting paint. 

 You can use your soft or hard scrub brush depending on what you are trying to lift.

(More information on scrub brushes can be found by clicking here and here)

When you lift your paint, wet your brush and lightly scrub the surface of the paper.

But make sure you have a tissue handy to dab at your paper as you lift the paint.

If you don't dab your paper with the tissue often, you will just be pushing dirty water around. 

The paper will also become too wet.  Then the paint around the area you are trying to lift will just bleed back into it.

I prefer a nice soft tissue for my lifting. Paper towels and some brands of tissue I feel are too rough for lifting. They don't seem to wick the water away from the paper as easily. 

It is also a good idea to stay away from tissues that are antiviral or have lotion in them.

They might leave some oils behind which become difficult to paint over if you need to.

The Best Reason for the Best Black

   This entry was originally posted on Tuesday, March 6, 2012 

It can be difficult to commit to painting a black. 

You might wonder, What if it is wrong?

What if I put it in the wrong place?

What if I can't undo it?!!!

 

But with French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna (US), you can undo it!!

These two colors, since they are opaque and sit on the surface of the paper (another reason to know the properties of your paint) you can easily lift your black!

Just use your soft scrub and some water and the paint will lift right off. 

Knowing this, I use this technique in several of my paintings.

For The Attic Room, I painted the background with the US combo and then lifted out the ceiling beams with a soft scrub brush.

More Reasons to Love the Best Black

  This entry was originally posted on Monday, March 5, 2012 

There are so many reasons to love the mixture of French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna for your blacks.

One is that you can vary your black between the warm and cool and give it life.

This can be seen in the window behind the portrait of Harold.

If it were just black, it wouldn't be as interesting and it would look like a black hole.

Harold

My greys in the wood are also done with the US combo.  

Another reason to love this combination is that both French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna granulate and push and pull each other. I love that!! 

Knowing this, I can use it in places where I want texture.

For instance, I use it for rocks like below.

 

The Best Black becomes the Best Grey

   This entry was originally posted on Saturday, March 3, 2012

Now that you know how to mix a good black, you can make an even more fabulous grey.

Just add water to your US (French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna) mixture and you now have grey.

To make it a warm grey, add more of the brown (burnt sienna).

To make a cool grey, add more blue (french ultramarine)

The Best Black

  This entry was originally posted on Friday March 2, 2012

When I was discussing paint colors in my previous posts, I mentioned that the two must have colors are:

 French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna.

Now you get to know why I like them so much!

French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna when mixed together make the best black.

This is because you can make it a warm black by adding more of the Burnt Sienna into the mix or a cool black by adding more of the French Ultramarine into the mix. 

I like to call this mix US for Ultramarine Sienna. 

Now your black will have more variation and life to it.

Mixing The Two Must Have Colors

Illustration of Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue

For this illustration, I chose to have my hand painted and the brush and colors to be the photo.

Here is the painted version:

Here is the photo:

Silver and Gold

Silver and Gold

11x14"

Over the weekend I taught a workshop on painting a still life from photographs. 

Since I have recently been asked by several people how to paint silver, I thought a painting of utensils would be a good exercise in just that.

For the course, I had a photograph of utensils and asked that each student chose their own composition by using L shaped pieces of paper as a cropping tool. Once they had chosen an appealing composition, the photo was traced onto watercolor paper.

Then I had them mask out certain areas that they felt were too small to paint around.

Some of the larger highlights were left unmasked so they could practice how to soften a color into a lighter area without the hard line that is left behind when mask is used. 

Once the mask was dry, we painted in the yellow. Although it is hard to see from the photo, a cool yellow wash was used on the silver utensils and background (which is a red tablecloth), while a warmer yellow wash was used on the gold utensils. Occasionally quinacridone rose was dropped into the yellow.

After the yellow dried, the painting was then built up in layers or glazes of wet -in-wet washes.

By combining your primary colors, a beautiful black can be achieved. What is nice about making a black like this is that in some areas, the black will be cooler by having it be more blue, and in other areas it will appear warmer by adding more yellow or red.

On the background/tablecloth, a glaze of Winsor Blue was added to the shadow/darker areas of the tablecloth, combining with the yellow and making it appear green.

The spoons were then darkened more with controlled washes of darker color, keeping in mind hard and soft edges. 

A glaze of red was put over the tablecloth. Where the blue was painted, the cloth now appears a darker shade of red, indicating the shadows of the utensils. Where it was left yellow, the cloth appears a brighter red, like it would appear when light hits it. 

The golden utensils were built up with the warmer yellow and what I like to refer to as a golden brown color that makes the lighter yellow pop and give the look of gold.

Finally, highlights were softened and certain lines defined.