What is remarkable about the Color Wheel

What is remarkable about this Color Wheel is the fact that all the colors shown here came out of just five tubes of paint, plus white. Nor is this all that can be accomplished with these few colors, for the range of hues possible from different combinations is almost infinite. The reason we stick to these tubes of paint (alizarin, ultramarine blue, viridian, cadmium yellow light, and cadmium red pale) and do not include such colors as black, yellow ochre, burnt sienna, umber, etc., is that the principle of the Color Wheel is based on that of "prismatic colors" (those which occur in the atmosphere)^ in which the heavier earth colors, such as ochre, sienna and umber, must naturally be excluded. This is obviously also true of black.

Yet, as you can see in the Color Wheel, it is possible to achieve hues strongly resembling the earth colors, while a combination of alizarin and ultramarine will combine to make a more intense black that is at the same.

Follow the rules as much as possible, but don't be rigid about it. Common sense and your own feeling for color are your best guide in resolving any discrepancy between what the rules say you should expect and the results you get. Consequently, when mixing two primaries to get your secondary color you have to take into account the fact that different tubes of paint don't all have the same tinting strength, so that more of one primary is sometimes necessary to produce a satisfactory secondary color. Here again I must remind you that tubes of paint include several other ingredients besides color, and (particularly in the more costly cadmiums) manufacturers will be more sparing in the use of certain pigments than in others.

Painting in Oil: The Palette

As for how to hold the palette, there seems to be some confusion about this. The thumbhole in the palette is a carryover from oldfashioned techniques of painting. It serves no real purpose in present-day work. The most convenient way of painting is to place the palette on some box or cabinet of about table height. Then the hands are free to occupy themselves with brushes, knife, and paint rag. And it generally makes for more comfortable work.

Some people, however, like the feel of holding the palette in the traditional way. If it will make the beginner feel better about his work, then there's no harm in it. The palette is balanced on the left forearm (assuming the painter is righthanded) with the thumb jutting through the hole from underneath. Brushes, knife, and cloth are clutched loosely together in the fist so that any of them can be withdrawn as needed.

Painting in Oil: The Brush

Brushes should never be held as one would a pen or a pencil. This only makes for tightness of work and brings the painter up too close to the canvas. It is best to hold the brush lightly between the finger tips, an inch or so below the ferrule. Balanced this way, the handle of the brush rests against the heel of the palm.

The idea is to treat the brush as though it were an instrument (which it is, but which a lot of people seem to forget) responsive to the most sensitive of impulses from the painter. There must be freedom in the stroking of the paint. When the motion comes from the shoulder it eliminates the possibility of niggling work.

Painting in Oil: How to Sit

If you're tired, or for any reason find it difficult to stand, then, of course, you must sit. But if you have to sit, try using a high stool if you can. There is a definite advantage in this. For one thing, when you're sitting too comfortable in a chair it's not so easy to get up often to move back for a better look at your canvas. It must be remembered that no one looks at a painting at close range unless he is terribly nearsighted. Most people stand off from a work of art in order to judge it in the totality of all its parts. Too much sublety in the painting, especially in the early stages of development, will be lost on the viewer.

Painting FLowers: Peonies

Peonies. Strength is added to this harmony of pale pink peonies by the deep wine red of the flowers in the foreground. The luminous delicacy of the petals is suggested with undefined shadows in an atmospheric violet-blue.

Detail is kept to a minimum. The cool pinks consist of alizarin crimson with a great deal of white. The warmer blossoms at the left were painted with white and vermilion. Alizarin crimson and ultramarine produced the deep red. There is a touch of Mars violet in the darkest shadows.

The background is kept evanescent, using chiefly white with some Prussian blue and umber. For the bowl, ultramarine is the principal color.

Primulas. In early spring, a pot of white primulas was set in a pale pink bowl. The graceful upward thrust of the long stems from their thick bed of large, green leaves formed a lovely natural design that cried out for paint.

The plant was painted just as it stood. It needed no changes to make an interesting composition. The blossoms are pure white with a little greenish shadow. Some strong white impasto was added with the small palette knife.

A soft pinkish background, made with burnt sienna and white, created a pleasant harmony. Stronger values in the foreground were produced by adding a little Prussian blue to the burnt sienna.

Painting with sponges is downright fun

PAINTING ORIGINAL ARTWORK on canvas is one of today's most popular and creative ways to enjoy our leisure time and to improve our artistic skills. No other painting technique puts such a unique and personal stamp on our surroundings, or brings such joy and satisfaction to both the artist and the viewer.

In the past, painting landscapes or floral still-fifes on canvas meant spending many hours in preparation, copying a pattern or drawing, assembling just the right brushes and paints, buying special equipment, painting with slow, deliberate strokes, repainting mistakes and starting over again....

No more! In this book you will discover a new and innovative way to paint quickly and easily using acrylic paints and common household sponges. No brushes needed! No experience required!

Painting with sponges is downright fun-and it frees you from the fear and frustration of making mistakes. Don't like what you've just painted? Spray the area with water and remove it with a clean sponge. It's that easy.

The sponges used to paint the projects in this book are the inexpensive cellulose ones you can find in any grocery, hardware or home improvement store. A natural sea sponge is also used to achieve some interesting effects, such as layers of colorful foliage on trees and bushes.

To tell this is now your business

To tell this is now your business; and the shape of the forehead, the form of the eyes, the line of the nose, and character of the mouth —each studied with care—will help to make the head a likeness, a personality.

But much besides the mere drawing of individual features contributes to this. The interior modeling, the high lights, half tones, and emphatic darks, the arch of the brow, the energetic or calm lines about the nose and mouth, the squareness or curve of the chin, are all elements in the interpretation of the likeness which must not escape the student. The color of the eyes, irrespective of the pupil, may be now indicated; also the depth of color in the mouth, which varies much with age or physical condition; do not suggest it any stronger in color than it appears under the conditions of the light in which the model is placed. In all that you do try to prove, by the result, that you have referred constantly to nature for the effects recorded. This, more than anything else, will be noted to your credit when you come to submit your work to the criticism of the expert, the painter whose own portrait work has gained him reputation Tor truth.