The best way to see true color is with a color isolator, holding it about six inches from your eyes, close one eye and position the hole so that you can see the color of the subject area you are judging. This isolator is a small piece of color that you no longer see a thing but only a specific color note. When looking through the color isolator, do it fast. Trust your first quick impression. The color isolator will help you visualize without preconceptions.

]]> http://www.painthappy.com/how-to-see-a-true-color/feed/ 0 http://www.painthappy.com/painting-basics-to-learn/ http://www.painthappy.com/painting-basics-to-learn/#comments Fri, 18 May 2012 07:15:29 +0000 Happy http://www.painthappy.com/?p=448 I’ve seen an intensive painting basic skills building class that offers the following training. I wish I could join such an class. Unfortunately I haven’t found a class like this in my area.

• efficient lay out of palette and workspace
• composition and design considerations
• tips for accurate drawing
• effective colour mixing of both neutral and saturated colour (with key ideas about how to achieve exactly the colour you are looking for)
• the importance of being able to see relatively in terms of both colour and value, and how to use this as an invaluable tool to create paintings that breathe with authenticity
• effective paint handling and brushwork (applying focused, deliberate marks on the canvas rather than a random “figure it out as I go” approach).

In order to be accurate with value you must constantly compare every value with every other value in your subject, rather than just values that are very near each other.

Try to simplify the values into big shapes in your head so they’re easier to deal with.

Work from life (because cameras skew value a lot) and before you begin ask yourself: What is my darkest value? What is my lightest value? Where do the others fall on the value scale? How do all the values relate to each other?

If you look through your viewfinder at your subject and find you have no contrast to speak of, or two values are very equal in amount, try changing something: a different background color (actually change out the paper or cloth you are using); the angle of the light; the objects themselves; the number of objects; crop in closer or further away; etc.

Lessons learned:

• Use a fairly large brush so you don’t get carried away with detail.
• Try to segment the pear/apple in your painting into large planes of separate color.
• Try to capture the individual value of each plane in correct relationship with the planes next to it. Keep squinting!
• Make sure every plane is a different color.
• You may soften edges between planes but do NOT paint large blends.
• Start with your darkest dark and lightest light.
• Time yourself, for example, 1o minutes to finish a pear/apple, stop when time’s up!

Below are a few apples painted by some artists with a loose style. I am working towards to their direction. Hopefully in the future my paintings will have a similar style.

Speaking of my acrylic painting, I should focus on value and fewer brush strokes.