Spring 2006 Volume 4 No. 1 Page 4

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THIS ISSUE PAGES

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OTHER ISSUES

ANDY MICHAELSMITH & COLOUR

Andy began by looking at the rainbow. He said that scientifically, indigo does not exist in the spectrum. However, through evolution, the human eye can perceive 44,000 different shades of colour and 40,000 of those are greens. This is linked to the inherited 'fight or flight' instinctive response. This explains why we spot mistakes much more readily when mixing shades of green.

All colours are perceived as reflected light. A blue door absorbs all other colours except blue, which it reflects. An orange door absorbs some of the red and yellow light, to a greater or lesser degree, in addition to the other colours that it absorbs. Black absorbs all colours, reflecting nothing. Andy said that putting true black into a painting is like 'committing murder'. Instead, there are other mixes: such as burnt umber and ultramarine blue, that produce a powerful, stable dark colour, even using student quality paints.

All paintings have six elements: tone, scale, hue, chroma and contrast. The more of these elements that are in a painting, the more successful it is obliged to become. Similarly, for each of these elements, there may be contrasts which also contribute to the success of the painting, while allowing that aerial perspective requires low contrast in the background and high contrast in the foreground.

Colour Temperature
Colours have a temperature, and therefore they each relate to a season. Using a paint chart, Andy proved to us that we already recognise warm red-gold as autumn light, acid yellow and green as spring light, blue-grey as winter light and warm yellow - cobalt blue as summer light. The colour of shadows, in particular, indicates to the viewer the air temperature i.e. how the day 'feels'. Note that where the overall aerial temperature of a painting is warm, the shadows should be cool; whereas when the aerial temperature of a painting is cool, the shadows should have a warm hue. Andy's tip is to choose the yellows according to the temperature of the air and pick the blues according to the season.

Paint Charts and Pigments
Members were urged to make a paint chart using lemon yellow, cadmium yellow and gamboges along one edge and cerulean, cobalt blue, ultramarine and Prussian blue along another edge. He categorises paint pigments into two categories: those that mix chemically and those that separate on the paper (known as 'granulation') that we mix with our eyes (just as Seurat used pointillism). Andy recommends adding a tiny lick of cadmium red or burnt sienna to an unnatural green (such as hooker's green) to make it usable. These techniques will allow the artist to control the greens in the painting and so control the whole mood of the picture.

Colour Properties and Aerial Perspective
Andy moved on to aerial perspective, which is a technique to use colour to represent 3-dimensions on a 2-dimensional surface. Each colour has its own range, according to its optical properties. Violet has the longest, which is why distant mountains appear purple. Red has the shortest range and would never appear as far away as distant mountains. So, we have cool colours at the back of the scene and warm colours at the front. The hue of each colour has to be proportionately warm or cool, according to the distance from the viewer, for example: Postman Pat's red van appears less red if it is in the middle distance of the picture.

Chroma
Each colour has a chroma value, its energy and luminescence, as well as a temperature value, for example: the acid yellow of a field of rape has a very high chroma value. The chroma value also related to aerial perspective, so a green tree using cadmium yellow will be brighter and nearer the front of a picture, whereas one using gamboges will be duller and further away.

Tone
The tone of a painting is governed by the amount of light being reflected - so contrasts in tone, such as contre-jour (silhouettes) and chiaroscuro (dark beside light) are most effective.

Hue
The hue is what we know as colour and the greatest contrasts in he are the 'complimentary colours' that are on opposite sides of a colour wheel, blue and orange, for example.

Two Approaches to Painting
Andy recommended that artists look at sections of a painting and analyse how many contrasting elements they contain. He recognised that this methodical approach would suit those who are pragmatic and who test their colours before using them. Those who are 'synasthesiast' (multi-sensory) and paint 'from the gut' would be less likely to analyse their work. The former type of artist sometimes experiences 'painter's block' through over-analysis, and the latter type sometimes spoils a painting by being too impulsive.

Andy's Gloss Satin and Matt Washes
Andy finished the evening by doing a watercolour painting in 25 minutes. He demonstrated washes by painting a landscape with distant mountains onto stretched paper. He differentiated between 3 types of wash: gloss, satin and matt, according to the wetness of the surface of the paper. Each type of wash produces a different effect. He washed the sky and allowed the paper to 'go into shock' before re-wetting the paper. The drying process can cause fractures in the glaze.

Clouds were taken out with a damp brush, applying the base of the bristles to the paper first ('heel and toe'). Andy also removes cloud shapes with Andrex tissue pre-shaped.

Mountains were painted in a pale cobalt wash and shadows added using a darker mix. His distant greens used gamboges yellow, while a cadmium yellow green was used in the middle distance and lemon yellow green was used in the foreground.

Andy had allowed the members present to choose the type of presentation for the evening; we chose an informative talk suitable for experienced artists, rather than one that was largely entertaining. Andy delivered, as promised, a complete course on colour within the space of a couple of hours, and we were amazed at how much there was to learn. Andy said how much he had enjoyed visiting Totton Art Society and we were very grateful to him for making the journey from Leicester to talk to us.

Di Alexander T.A.S. Editor