Observational Color:

Observational Exercises

NOTES ON TEMPERATURE, VALUE,AND LIGHTING:

It is my humble opinion that improving ones color handling can be achieved through color observa-
tion exercises. Simple still life scenarios can be organized as a means of specific skill building. For
instance, if an artist wishes to improve subtle color relationships, a monochromatic still life set up
will train the eye to really stretch and grow.

In teaching color observation classes at the Atelier, I was quite taken by surprise at how well my
students could mix colors based on a single color. I passed out random paint chips from the home
improvement store and asked that they be matched as well as possible.

(a)There was a great deal of accurate and near accurate mixtures. (b) (c)However, when we moved
to painting a single object, difficulties arose. Why was this the case?

I believe that our brain can override what the eye is actually seeing. If I am going to paint a lemon, I
think to myself "I need cadmium lemon." But, the lemon is affected by its environment, those color
notes in the surrounding area, and the light source, which increases complexity.

b.

a.

c.

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In early days of learning how to paint at the
school, I was very interested in painting
colorfully. I threw every cadmium and quina-
cridone at the painting. Those paintings were
definitely colorful, but not in a good way. I
had failed to really see the color, painting my
mind's eye of the color.
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Observational Exercises
Observational Exercises
For this reason, that lemon will look flat and
garish if only cadmium lemon paint is used.
What about the half tones, the core shadows,
the reflected light? These will all be larger
factors in the painting than the color itself.
One should think of color as temperature, and
as a relationship.
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 Observational Color:
Observational Exercises

TEMPERATURE d

Lets talk about temperature. Consider

the light source as a means of simplifying
temperature. If you are painting under
"north light" conditions, this is generally
considered to be a cool light source.
Anything that is in contact with the cool
north light will have that influence in
conjunction with the local color of the
object. A lemon is considered to be
"yellow" in terms of its local color. When
lit by north light, which is considered to
be a blue or violet light, the lemon will
take on a greener or cooler cast where the
north light hits it (d). The areas outside
the north light, such as the core and
shadow areas will tend to take on a e
warmer temperature.

Take that same lemon and light it by a

sunset's light. This type of lighting is
generally very warm, taking on orange,
red, pink, and purple tones. The areas of
the lemon that are in the direct path of
the sunset's light will appear more
orange. Its shadows will tend more
towards the green and cooler family (e).

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 Observational Color:
Observational Exercises

VALUE

Value plays a huge role in proper color

mixing. We must determine the proper
value for the color first. If our mixtures
are the correct color, but they are either
too light or dark, they will look wrong
when placed in the scene. At that point
you may wonder if your color choice was
accurate. It may be a problem that stems
from the attention that an out of place
value achieves. In learning how to trans-
late color into value, I found that making
a copy of my color reference in black and
white to be very helpful. Consider the
lemon scene and tomato scene. When
observing them in full color, they both
seem to glow with bright color. However,
when transformed to grayscale, the
tomatoes are quite dark. It has been said
that when movies were shot in black and
white that actresses avoided wearing
deep red lipstick, as it appeared almost
black on screen. If you can refer to the
black and white version along side the
color version, you can argue less with
where the color belongs on the value
chart.

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 Observational Color:
Observational Exercises

LIGHTING

Always have awareness of what type of light-

ing you have. Make a mental note of this
before you put the brush to canvas. We
generally use a 300 watt bulb to light our
set-ups at the school.

This light has a golden yellow cast. I tell

myself that everything in the path of this light
is warmer than everything that is not in the
path of the light. The temperature forms the
relationship between the two parties of what
you are really painting-the light family and
the shadow family. The relative experience is
that a warm light family equals a cool shadow
family and a cool light family equals a warm
shadow family. This is quite simplistic, for
there are micro relationships occurring inside
the families.

The head when warmly lit from above will

cast a shadow over the neck. This shadow will
appear cooler than the lit areas. However,
light bouncing off the chest will reflect
warmth into the chin and neck area, creating
a warm spot in the coolness of the shadow.
There is the "egg effect" to consider as well in
the light family. As that warm light dissipates
over the form, it begins to cool. The forehead,
being closer to the light tends to be the most
yellow, the cheeks cool a bit, as they inch
away from the light. There is a touch of blue
or green influencing the head near the jaw.

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 Observational Color:
Observational Exercises

Consider atmospheric perspective

affecting the temperature. Every
millimeter away from the yellow light
begins the cooling effect.

A field of golden wheat at your feet will

become green and eventually purple as
it heads to the mountains. The phrase
"Purple mountain majesties" comes to
mind, and we ask why are mountains
blue and purple? They could be cov-
ered with golden wheat, yet they look
purple from a distance. This is due to
wavelengths in the spectrum. Violet
has the shortest wavelength in the
color spectrum. For the human eye,
the shortest wavelength has the high-
est frequency and energy. Red has the
longest wavelength, it has the lowest
frequency and disappears more
quickly to our eyes. Yellow and orange
are closer to red in frequency, and they
too tend to fade more quickly than the
blue and violet family. There are light
frequencies outside our eyes capabili-
ties such as ultraviolet and infrared. - RECOMMENDED EXERCISE -

Although this is not meant to be a
color theory based lesson, it is helpful
to have a basic understanding of the
properties of light. Observation plus
some knowledge of light will help
improve the handling of color.
Paint chip mixing. Visit your local home
improvement center. Gather some paint chips
from the paint department, selecting random
shades. Using a palette knife and the warm
and cool primary palette, test yourself with
color matching. Ask what the mixture would
need to get into the correct range of color,
questions such as "is it warmer than this,
redder than this, etc."

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