Landscape colors....have you ever wonder?

Choosing your colors for landscape paintings

According to the M. Graham & Company,  Landscape tone watercolors can take many forms in choices of colors.   A plain air artist's or photo realism  artist can have  a variety choices. To help with choices, one can use  five colors includes:  for a  Sky (Cerulean Blue),  for Foliage  that is Green (Sap Green or hooker greenmixed with a little white or blue as needed), Tree Bark  (Burnt Umber or mixed  blue and orangeorange), Afternoon Shadow (Purple.mixd black a little white) and Sunrise use Yellow (Yellow Ochre).  These colors are  Intense and alive with strength no matter what watercolor set you use.

Reference: google images.. search landscapes

Art

Art is my freedom from the struggles of life

Translucent and Opaque - Terms for Art....What do they really mean?

Hello All:  I watch a ton of Art videos and I hear more and more artists talk about color theory using the terms Translucent and Opaque....okay, I get mixed from one person to another so being the mixed media artist researcher that I am....I had to look it up.

According to the Grammarist (2016):  Transparent, translucent and opaque are adjectives that describe the amount of light that is able to pass through an object. 

   

The skin tone has light highlights - Translucent

                              and hair is Opaque

Translucent is an adjective that describes material through which one may see an object, but may not be able to discern the details. Translucent may also be described as semitransparent. Sautéed onions are translucent. Related words are translucence, translucency and translucently.

Opaque is an adjective that describes material that one may not see through, it is not transparent. A brick is opaque. Related words are opaquely and opaqueness.

In the Art world, Translucent and Opaque colors means:

• Opaque - Light does not pass through- (the color hides what is under the color
• Translucent - Some light passes, but is diffused in different directions - (can see under the color

So Translucent and Opaque color have do with how much light transmits through the color or not.

                                                 Lights strikes!

Example of Color that are Translucent and Opaque:

Now, doesn't Translucent and Opaque make sense?

References:

http://grammarist.com/usage/transparent-translucent-and-opaque/

http://www.learn4yourlife.com/transparent-versus-translucent.html

http://www.clear-path.com/colorhueswedgewood.html

Impasto - OR Texture on Paintings

Hello Everyone:

Okay, yes, I am a real Geek.  I read and research everything.  I am having a blast this summer reading Art History and color therapy.  I am learning so many things that I have to pass on some of this knowledge to others.  For instance, I learned a new word it is Impasto.  

It means according to Wikipedia: Impasto is a technique used in painting, 

where paint is laid on an area of the surface very thickly, usually thick enough 

that the brush or painting-knife strokes are visible. Paint can also be mixed 

right on the canvas. When dry, impasto provides texture, the paint appears to 

be coming out of the canvas.


Okay, they had me at texture.  I Googled the Impasto process and found videos on it including how to make homemade texture paste as impasto means paste.  Well, I shopped my stash and found most of the ingredients.  I made a video to chronicle the process and stills of the result.  My challenge was could I use it with watercolor.

According Caftsy (2016), The impasto technique is mostly used with thicker, opaque paints like oils, acrylics, gouache and tempera. While impasto is technically possible with some watercolors, it is rarely seen in that medium. Let’s take a look at some examples of impasto at work.  I smell a challenge here!

Do you see the texture through brush work-texture?

The texture here stands off the page-- up, literally


Of course, I got started with these ingredients found in my stash... I used a combination of cornstarch, flour, elmer's glue, a little H20 (water), and white craft paint.

These are ingredients I found at home

This painting is a watercolor and added yellow watercolor to the white texture (impasto medium-home made) then I applied with a knife (could not find my palette knife) to the sun only and waited a couple of hours for it to dry.  I hesitated to use the heat gun...didn't want the flour to and cornstarch to bake.

See the video for the process and the results.



References:

1. Impasto - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impasto

2.  http://www.craftsy.com/blog/2013/06/impasto-painting/

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=Impasto

Friday Gallery - Celebration of World Watercolor Month....here is my Take on watercolors

My week in art!!!  Check out my painterly landscape below in watercolors.

This my week. In art!

Friday's New Word: "Painterly" - Mixed Media Research

Hello All:

Still reading my Art History books this summer.  Found a new word.  I had to research.  Funny, when your self taught in mixed media; one has to absorb more information to decipher, code, and retain information.

Okay, my new word is "Painterly".  Seems made up, but it is a word and has a meaning that relates to all mixed media artist.

According to About.com (June, 2016),

The above patinging has brush strokes that literally stand out and give depth and reality to the painting.  This painting is Vince Van Gogh's Landscape with carriage and Train

Definition of Painterly

The term painterly is used to describe a painting done in a style that embraces, shows, and celebrates the paint medium that it is created in (be it oil paint, acrylics, pastels, gouache, watercolor, etc.), rather than a style that tries to hide the act of creation. It is a loose and expressive approach to the process of painting in which the brushstrokes are visible, rather than one that is controlled and rational, and tries to hide the brushstrokes.

Paint can be thin and still be applied in a painterly way.  Painterly means that the style or approach does not try to hide the fact that a brush or knife was used to create the artwork, and that celebrates the paint or art material itself (the surface of a sculpture might even be said to be painterly if the carved or modeled marks resemble brushstrokes or are visible.) 

According to the Tate Gallery's Glossary (2016), the term painterly "carries the implication that the artist is reveling in the manipulation of the oil paint itself and making the fullest use of its sensuous properties.

As stated earlier, a painterly style clearly shows the brushstrokes and the energy of the gesture that went in to making those brush marks.  A mixed media Artist, can use a combination of Impasto and Painterly to express their styles.

An example  of a Painterly style is:

Here in this painting you see the brush strokes (painterly) and texture "impasto"

Look at the platoon of men on zoom you can see the brush strokes.

This Portrait called Rosina by John Singer Sargent shows his style of doing "Painterly" paintings.  The brush strokes are apparent.  His style also included drawing and underpainting, and layering.  He relied in the proper placement of tones of paint.

here is my attempt at "Painterly and Impasto"...can you see the brush strokes and texture?

References:

Tate Gallery -www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary

--John Singer Sargent (January 12, 1856 – April 14, 1925) Johnsingersargent.org

-http://painting.about.com/od/artglossaryp/g/defpainterly.htm--About.com

So All, we have two new words and mixed media techniques this summer, I am still reading will have another word for you real soon.  E.L.

Travel Watercolor Palette that you can make yourself - Choose your favorite colors

Happy  World Watercolor Month to Everyone: 

#WorldWatercolorMonth

Paint with watercolor ((watercolour), aquarelle) while raising awareness for the importance of art and creativity in the world.

Henri Matisee said, "With color one obtains an energy that seems to stem from witchcraft.   Since it is World Watercolor Month and vacation time, I have taped a short video Tutorial on creating your own travel watercolor palette with very few tools and items from around the house or dollar store.  Enjoy!  It is really fun and you start thinking of ways to palettes for all you mediums to carry on your outings.




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References:

Read more at: http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/h/henri_matisse.html

https://doodlewash.com/world-watercolor-month-july-2016/