A Landscape Demo Using A Two Value Underpainting.

                             Bridge to Pocomoke   12x16   Acrylic on Panel


Reference Photo:

Step 1.  Create a two value statement by squinting at the subject and dividing all the forms into just one dark and one light.

Step 2.  Stain the entire underpainting with a  diluted mixture of burnt umber and cadmium red.   (You can substitute burnt sienna instead of the umber/cad red mixture.)   Dilute your mixture with just water or an acrylic blending medium.  Allow the paint to dry.  

Step 3.  Using a limited palette, mix and  apply the various home colors.  (If needed, see prior posts for help with limited palette  color mixing.)   Try to mix your desired colors on your palette.  Try to mix the correct needed hue, value, and saturation on your palette before appling the mixture to the underpainting.

  


Notice how the warm underpainting shows thru the subsequent layer, unifying the colors over the  entire painting and at the same time creating a sense of sunlight.  Make sure you include the needed hard and soft edges to add authenticity.  Notice how the  established light/dark relationship from step 1  has not been compromised.

Bethany Beach Boardwalk Arts Festival. Thanks for stopping by!

Underpainting With Two Values For Clarity

This was painted over a two value underpainting.   The advantage of starting with a two value underpainting is you automatically set up a very strong light /dark relationship.  It's easy to intrepret subjects into two values simply by squinting at your subject.    I forgot to photograph the underpainting so I recreated it in paintshop.  (see below)  Note how  much information about the subject is communicated with just two values.   The lights in the underpainting were painted with a mix of burnt sienna and alizarin crimson.  The dark was just a dark grey which was then tinted with the light mixture.     I then palette mixed and painted in the various home colors.  To help control saturation,  I used thin washes of paint over the sky and light areas of the gravel, and thicker applications in the grasses and buildings.  It's 11x14 on canvas panel. 

 This is a photoshop recreation of the two value underpainting:

Reference Photo:

Color Mixing and Understanding Hue, Value, and Saturation.

A direct way to arrive at a desired color mixture is to mix the color on your palette in manageable steps.

Generally, You have to be able to make 3 decisions about a color to mix it precisely. You have to decide on the target color's (1) hue, (2) value, and (3) saturation.

For definitions and illustrations explaining hue, value, and saturation, please see the attached reference sheet containing the color wheel.  The information compiled on the sheet is provided free of charge from Wikipedia and also borrowed, with much gratitude and written permission, from artist Malane Newman's website: http://www.malanenewman.com/color_theory_color_wheel.html

Mixing in Manageable Steps:

Please refer to the attached handout showing the apple.
The apple reference sheet will illustrate the steps outlined below. Please feel free to retrace the steps using the free WetCanvas interactive
color mixing palette http://www.wetcanvas.com/colormixer/colormixer.php
I used the WetCanvas virtual palette to process the mixtures and I also borrowed the apple reference image from the Reference Image Library at WetCanvas. (Thanks to Sketchophrenia from Wetcanvas for contributing the reference photo.)

Let's begin by first isolating and then mixing a specific color on the apple. In practice, our first color decision in matching a target color is to decide on the hue and to mix it.
 
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Step 1 Hue
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We first pick the tube color that most closely matches the color that we wish to mix. Then we decide if we need to modify that hue.

In the case of the apple, we decide alizarin is the closest hue resembling our target color, but not quite close enough. The section of the apple we are considering is just a little more purple looking than pure alizarin. How do we achieve that slight shift toward purple? Mix in some blue into our alizarin pile to bend that color toward purple. (Red + Blue= Purple.) If we accidentally add too much blue, we just need to add some more alizarin

back into our mixture to reduce the proportion of added blue. In real life we should be testing our mixture by painting a swatch of it on scrap paper and holding it up to our target color to compare.

After approximating our hue, our next step is to consider the target color's value. (In practice, if you are having trouble determining the closest top level hue of your desired target color, hold up your color wheel next to the target. Ask yourself, "Is this target color more red, yellow, blue, purple, orange, green?")

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Step 2 Value
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Value is the relative degree of lightness or darkness of a color.

In practice, Our next step after mixing the proximate hue of our hypothetical apple is to adjust the value by deciding if our mixture from step 1 is lighter or darker than your target color. If the red we mixed is appearing darker than what is observable on the hypothetical apple, we need to lighten our mixture. We can lighten by either adding in

either white, or yellow, or both at the same time. Adding just white to lighten our mixture will not only lighten it, but will push the color pile a little towards blue. Adding just yellow will not only lighten our mixture but will also push the color pile towards being yellow (orange.)

Adding white and yellow at the same time will lighten the value without pushing the pile too far blue or yellow. (Always consider using yellow or white plus yellow to lighten a colors value.) So, in practice, we just need to add a little white, or yellow, or both to our red hue mixture to lighten it up a little. In the case of they hypothetical apple, we decide it's safe to only add white to lighten the value. (Since our target color is bluish red we don't want to lighten our mixture with yellow, which will bend our color towards yellow.) (Had we been painting the apple in shadow we might have needed to darken our red/purple mixture's value by adding black.) If you can't determine the value, use your grey scale value checker. Squint down at your target color and note where it seems to visually

melt into its equivalent on the grey scale. Do the same with your mixture and adjust accordingly.

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Step 3 Saturation
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Since our hue and value look correct, we should now consider saturation. How pure is our reddish purple as compared to what is really showing on the apple? Sometimes we make the mistake of judging colors to be purer than they really appear. Decreasing saturation is sort of like neutralizing or greying a color but not completely eliminating its influence.

To change the saturation we can either add grey to a mixture, or add the mixture's complement. If we decide to add grey we need to make sure the grey is close to the same value as our current mixture. When adding grey we are in effect weakening its visual potency by diluting our mixture. Another way to reduce saturation is to add the color's complement. This is sort of like negating a fraction of the particles in our mixture to grey them out. If you add too much of the complement you completely grey the mixture. When adding a complement we might also have to go back and lighten the value as adding the complement can potentially darken the mixture (depending on the complement.)

In the case of the hypothetical now purplish apple mixture, we decide our mixture is a little too pure and so we decide we want to reduce the saturation. We add just a little yellow (the complement of purple) to neutralize it.

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Note, If desired, you can adjust the saturation first before changing the value. It's also important to note that changing the value can automatically adjust the saturation, since adding white or yellow or black to a mixture is also in effect diluting or de-purifying that mixture.

Hope I'm not making this sound too complicated.


In a nutshell:

Step 1 (Hue)

A.Choose a tube color that most closely approximates your target color.

If you don't have a tube of the desired hue, or if you are deliberately working with a limited palette, then mix the needed hue. (i.e. Yellow +Blue= Green. Red +Blue= Purple.Yellow +Red= Orange.)

B. Alter that hue if necessary.

(i.e. My tube of ultramarine isn't greenish enough to match this hypothetical bluish green cup I'm trying to paint, so I'll add just a dab of yellow to the ultramarine to green it up.

Step 2 (Value)

Once you approximate the generic hue, correct the value if necessary.

Add black or a complement to darken the mixture's value. Add white or yellow or both to lighten it. If you don't like using tube blacks mix your own black. (I.e. Burnt umber + ultramarine.)

Step 3. (Saturation)

Neutralize the colors purity if necessary by adding grey or a complement.
If you darken the value while neutralizing with a complement, refer back to step 2 and add a little white, yellow, or both to lighten its value.

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Important: When mixing a color, after each step, paint out a swatch of your mixture on a scrap piece of paper and then physically hold the swatch next to your target color and make a side by side comparison to check your mixed color against the reality of the target color.

Modify your pile on the palette as necessary - change the hue? value? saturation? Repaint your swatch, then compare again. No need to guess, or arrive at a needed color by accident. Be like a scientist objectively comparing your results with your target color. If you are struggling be assured it gets easier.
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Sometimes you'll find you can skip steps. The value of the tube hue might be fine but the saturation might be off. Or the hue and value adjustment might bring you to the correct target color with no need to worry about saturation. The best way to internalize this information is to experience it in practice for yourself. We painters need to be like paint mixing machines, mechanically and intuitively capable of mixing any color put forth before us. Our computer printers can approximate this with just 3 primary ink cartridges plus black.
Browns: For mixing purposes it might help to think of brown as a low value orange.

Black: Ultramarine plus burnt umber is one way to mix black. Feel free to use tube blacks instead. Black with just a little yellow added makes a great, earthy green.
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A Suggested Limited Palette for Acrylics:

To be able to mix a wider range of colors with just primaries, it makes sense to have an expanded set of primaries. Some suggest using a warm and a cool version of each hue.

For the blues, I'll use french ultramarine and cerulean. Reds: Alizarin Crimson and Cadmium Red. Yellows: Cadmium yellow (or y. ochre) and lemon yellow .

You also need white (titanium white and/or acrylic gesso), burnt umber, and black. You can mix your own black (i.e. ultramarine plus burnt umber) or just use a tube black.

Why use two versions of each primary? Limiting yourself to just one tube of each primary has limitations. If you want to mix ,for example, a turquoise, a cooler french ultramarine and cadmium yellow just won't work. Cerulean is closer to the turquoise and a more logical place to start. Mixing a bright vibrant orange just isn't possible with alizarin crimson. A warmer cadmium red would be in order. You don't have to lay out all 6 primaries for every painting, but choose your primaries as your subject dictates.



(Note:  I originally  prepared this information when I hosted a color mixing workshop on WetCanvas.)

Portrait Demo Using A Limited Palette and A Four Value Underpainting

A quick portrait demo showing a relatively painless approach to portraits using a limited palette and a four value underpainting.

Finished Painting:

                                                                                         

For the reference I used a free picture from the Reference Image Library of Wetcanvas:

 

I started with a detailed line drawing and then painted a 4 value study using only black, a dark grey, a lighter grey, and white.

To paint your own  4 value study you can either use photoshop to convert your reference to black and white and then posterize your reference down to 4 values (see below.) or you can outline groups of value areas directly on your full color reference and then decide if each outlined group, in terms of value, is more closely related to a black,a dark grey,a light grey, or a white. You can note your decision on your reference then paint those value patterns accordingly (see below.)

Here's the reference photo reduced to 4 values in photoshop: 

Here's the color reference divided into value groups which you can translate into simple grey tones on your underpainting:

I let the 4 value study dry.

Using a limited palette of alrizarin crimson, cad yellow, ultramarine, white, I mixed a generic overall pinkish flesh tone and diluted the paint with water and lightly tinted the entire face, except for the white areas. The key is to paint transparently as if you are tinting a photo. You can dilute your acrylic paint with medium or water. Saturation is automatically controlled by the fact that the paint is diluted and the pigments are dispursed sparsly and the grey underpainting is showing thru and influencing the color. I used the yellow to mix a light color and painted the lights on the sides.
 
 

Finally, I mixed and added little saturated areas of local color, mixed with the three primaries. The key is restraint. If the color is too strong, just glaze it with the generic flesh tint you already mixed. Mix a brown with red, yellow, and a little black to strengthen the shadows. Add warm and cool greyed colors where observed. I tinted the hat, shirt, and suspenders with ultramarine and a little cerulean. The whole 5x7 portrait took about 90 minutes. The grey underpainting really helped hold it together. After that first flesh tint is added you can get really reckless with the color and it will still seem believable. This is a fun, consistant, and relatively painless technique for making portraits compared to some of the other less systematic approaches.

DIY hand enhanced giclee print.

I converted a digital photo of my original painting into black and white, and then printed it at home on Fredrix Inkjet Canvas.  This is real, gesso primed cotton canvas thin enough to fit in a standard home printer.   I sealed the black and white print with two coats of clear acrylic medium.

Using a variety of filbert brushes, I proceeded to wash in the home colors with water thinned washes of acrylic paint. (Just about any medium could have been used to colorize this print (oil, colored pencil, marker.)

The hand enhanced giclee print pictued with the original 12"x16" painting Ajax Cuts Grease.

Animal Planet (step by step)

I started with a detailed pen drawing on a white canvas panel.  I then  brushed in a wash of burnt sienna over the entire drawing. While the paint was still wet I used a damp rag to wipe out some of the lightest areas.  If I was an expressionist I could just call it quits here. 

Next I started mixing the home colors on the palette and painting them in stroke by stroke.  No need to blend or modify the colors or once placed on the canvas.

The burnt sienna underpainting shows thru the outer layers and seems to complement every other subsequent color. It also warms up the entire painting.

I added hatch strokes and broke up some of the harder edges to add a sense of movement. The painting seemed too static and more like an illustration.

 Animal Planet. 11"x14" Acrylic on Canvas Panel Available

Mobile Home

This was painted from a photo reference. First I completed a grey underpainting with just 4 tones (white, light grey, dark grey, black.) I then palette mixed and painted thin, diluted washes of accurate, local color over the underpainting. I finished with thicker, jucier strokes, adding the thickest paint in the lightest areas. 

Underpainting with initial brown wash:  

                                                                                          
Completed painting:

Mobile Home. 12"x16" Acrylic on Canvas Panel

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Welcome................

I'm a Delaware based impressionist and realist painter working primarily in acrylics.  I paint across  genres and even experiment with conceptual art.  Check back for up coming step by step photo demos of developing paintings and both practical and unconventional lessons in painting techniques in addition to a dry media gallery.   Thanks for visiting!!!