Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Mixing transitional colors



As I said yesterday about my session with Thomas Kitts, it was good to have feedback on the paintings I had done between sessions. And, as I said in yesterday's post, with some paintings I hit the mark and with others I missed it.

With the Turner palette painting from January 6, Thomas said that I created a problem for myself by putting complementary colors next to one another and then blending them for the transition. That created many dull, gray colors. As an alternate, he suggested I experiment with and try to mix transitional colors to move through colors without using gray. What you see in the above samples are my attempts today to do that very thing.

The top swatch is my most successful transition, I think. I got from violet to yellow without getting any gray in between. I love that!

My question for you: do you use transitional colors? What are your thoughts on the subject?

Yesterday, in our conversation about mixing and using transition colors, Thomas referred to the book Franz A Bischoff: The Life and Art of an American Master. I am ordering the book today (click on the title for the link). It is filled with examples of this California artist's amazing work. Below, you see two examples of Bischoff's work. I think you will agree, this is a man who knew how to transition colors!!


Monterey Coast, Franz A. Bischoff


Roses, Franz A. Bischoff

4 comments:

Celeste Bergin said...

Hey Kvan, thanks for sharing your lesson. There are many things that separate the "hobbyist" painter from the pro--one of them (so I've been told!) is understanding and creating proper transitions. I do make an effort to understand and make transitions..(especially in forms and objects that are "turning"). Good work with all this--your painting yesterday was so good--I'll be watching for more! Thanks for the link to Bischoff too :)

Katherine van Schoonhoven said...

You share some good thoughts, Celeste. My painting yesterday had lots of help from Thomas, but much of it was mine. I'll be doing more soon!

Ralph said...

I am amazed at how you are such a keen learner. I break all the rules that is why your art is always so much better than mine will ever be. Thank you so much for your continuing support on my blog.

Jala Pfaff said...

Good work happening over here!