Day Three of Kitty Wallis Workshop

Kitty calls her workshops "Color Intensive" and she is RIGHT! Here's what a temperature-controlled value palette can do. For this study, Kitty had us choose warm colors for the lighter values (in equal value steps, light to mid-tones) and cool colors for the darker values (equal steps from mid-tones to dark). Good to know how the warm lights make this painting look like a lemony confection!

In this study, we selected both warm and cool pastels for each of the value steps, and then used that limited palette to render a painting from a black and white photo. What do you think?

This was my final painting of the day. My painting time was very interrupted but I am still pleased with some parts of this painting. I can see the the values are considered and even describe some of the forms.

Here you see a more fully developed color wheel. Notice the shift from the outer pure colors to the more grayed tones in the center. Choosing the right pastel for value-matching was a big challenge. On the right you see my table-mate's box. It was great to meet Dori Dewberry and see her fine work during the workshop. You can see more of her work on her blog here.

Kitty Wallis Advanced Color Intensive Workshop Day Four

Final day of the workshop and we made our own pastels! Kitty had us put the colors on a giant color wheel to help fix color theory in our minds. I made yellow greens for the big wheel. Later, I made dark olive green and shades. Don't they look beautiful?

Kitty Wallis Advanced Color Intensive Day Three

putting it into practice

big shapes under painting on 18 x 24

Yellowstone

Day three. I can tell that this stuff is sinking in. Not perfect by any means, but, some progress.

When I sorted laundry this evening, the piles I made were "lights," "midtones," and "darks."

Tomorrow we'll make pastels. I'm excited!!

Kitty Wallis Advanced Color Intensive Day Two

Mixed temperature value palette

Warm lights and mids, cool mids and darks

Class renderings with warm lights, cool darks

After yesterday's experiments with value palette, today Kitty had us work with temperature. Color temperature is important to understand for any serious painter, but it's seldom discussed in workshops.

First we selected playful palettes but limited the light to midtones to warm colors and the midtones to darks were cool. This sounds easier than it was. Even steps of value between each color change. I discovered some holes in my available pastels.

Using only those colors selected for the palette described above, we rendered another black and white photo to a color painting. Some artists used the same photo reference from yesterday, but I selected a new one.

Finally, we used the palette from yesterday and the new one from today, mixed them together and repeated the exercise. This time we were able to select warm or cool colors. I used the same photo reference so that I could compare the two experiences.

Contrast between dark and light, warm and cool, bright and dull all go toward giving the painter a variety of ways to express his/her ideas about the essence of the subject. Today felt like starting to learn how to play an unfamiliar piece of music. I played a few wrong notes, felt awkward at times, but I'm excited about what is to come!

Kitty Wallis Advanced Color Intensive Day 1

Kitty Wallis emphasizes the importance of understanding and mastering values.

"Value" means the darkness or lightness of a shape or pastel.
"Value" does not mean color intensity, saturation, purity or anything else.
"Value" has nothing to do with your preference for a color.

One exercise she has her workshop students do is to create a playful value palette using different color families in an evenly stepped progression of pastels from dark to light. Next, she has students use that palette to render a black and white photograph.

In the top photo you see my photo reference and my painting. Isn't it amazing how the color is not important when the values are right?

The bottom photo shows the renderings from all of the workshop participants. Notice that different artists sometimes chose the same reference to work from -- with different results!

Time for a good night's sleep. More workshop tomorrow!