Color Blog

because of the history of printing and photographs, black and white or monochrome is an artistic choice generally referencing historical events primitive groups had two words for groups of colors (we have about 12), warm and cool essentially because these were functional words, psychologically important atmospheric perspective oftentimes make further objects cooler and closer warmer additive color mixing (colored lights) triads: triadic sceme any three basic colors

ideal pigments are permanent plentiful and nonpoisonous color index names are made to avoid confusion in branding P(pigment) (letter for hue) ultramarine= PB 29 light means leaning towards color (cad yellow light, leans toward yellow) deep means leaning towards red 'hue' means a combination of pigments to replace costly historical pigments binder holds the pigment together gum arabic or linseed oil pigments have hue value and chroma transparency drying time and compatibility w/ other pigments tinting strength is how well it holds chroma when white is added mass tone is the color of pigment when spread thickly over a surface lightfastness resistance to fading of color when in light       colorant molecules break down in the presence of light dyes are not lightfast yellows magentas and violets tend to not be as lightfast tone support with warm colors to help improve your paintings really greate for skies and foliage, warm peaks through and adds an aesthetic...

greeks and romans considered green a primary color too in reality all colors on the outer rim of color wheel are primary (cannot be mixed with one another to get that exact color) the idea of secondary in true reality or nature is also false the color wheel gives too much weight to yellow and red section because our eyes are really good at distinguishing these colors munsell system gurney says its better too have too much gray than too much saturation (better gray than garish) place color cents tht were used to mix the grays (complementaries) to harmonize them human eye is more sensitive to yellow green wavelengths than any other nature consists of variation (gradation in paintings is a good thing)

  Many different subtleties of shadow shapes, it’ll save time when you paint if you group light and shadow mainly then add a few more groups  Texture in shadow is not the same as in light, much more visible in darker half tone (of light side)  In over cast light upward planes are lighter but there is no shadow side  Separate light and shadow despite the objects color  Cast shadows in sunny days tend to be blue because they are facing the sky unless another source is more dominant  To create drama light the top half of vertical forms and leave the rest in shadow Occlusion shadows are those created by the form itself ie fold in clothing  Portraits are often created with 3/4 lighting, low enough to illuminate both eyes Called broad lighting  Main light is key light Lighting on the foreshortened side makes faces appear thinner  Rembrandt lighting creates triangle of light on cheek bone  If yo...

direct sunlight; light comes from sun and subordinate to that, blue sky and light from other obects  over cast day: colors are brighter and purer; makes good paintings of complicated scenes  window light provides bluish cast and has soft constant light photographs often change the barely lit surface lights of candles to distinct blacks different types of light bulb allow for different light spectrums, incandescent are stronger in orange and reds and weak in blues and greens, flourescents emphasize yellow and greens luminscent colors graduate from one hue to another hidden light sources create mystery and intrigue Graphic LA  - pgs  96-143 a thought on these two books: I'm amazed at how both these prolific artists draw EVERYTHING, they have studies from every day life, not just grand things, you can feel their passsion for drawing because you can tell they are doing it constantly from the wide range of subject matters they portray black and whit...

-Old Master pallates were made of lots of browns, new technologies made brighter colors possible, -Hudson river school was an example of good use of this new brilliant color plein air was also made possible by paint tubes -full color reproductions changed the art that came to the home (through magazines etc)