Critique Notes No. 20/Feb. 2008

IN THIS EDITION:
:: Working with expressive color
:: The harmony of neutrals
:: Gamblin Colors' website
:: Book recommendations: "Wolf Kahn Pastels" and "Soceity of Six California Colorists"

Working with expressive color

Many landscape painters pursue the landscape as an opportunity to play with expressive or "high-key" color. However, expressive color is often misued. For it to be effective — for it to be believable and for the colors not to get "out of control" — the colorist must also pay attention to the antithesis of pure color — neutrals.

A musical analogy. On the piano, I can play chopsticks in a very low register, with deep, resonant notes, or I can play it in the upper register, on the other end of the keyboard, in higher notes. The progression of the notes, or the basic melody, is the same in both registers. It isn’t the different octaves that determine the melody, but this relationship among the notes. In the same way, color can be mapped to different registers, low key or high key.

Question: How does the artist evaluate whether an expressive color model is working? Answer: When the arrangement of colors is convincing. Here "convincing" doesn’t mean "realistic;" it means that the arrangement of colors is believable within the context of the painting. Or are they looking to sweet and overstaurated? Color doesn't have to be about factual veracity, but it must allow the viewer to suspend judgment and not question the coloristic metaphor. The Impressionists frequently used colors that were "impossible," but in the context of the entire painting, in relation to all the other colors, they were entirely believable. Is enough of a relationship to the core melody maintained in order for the tune to be recognized?

With great potential comes great responsibility. Color can be so captivating that it can cause us to overlook other important interractions between color or overlook other problems within the painting. Color, as powerful as it is, is just one dimension of a painting. There are other essential dimensions such as subject, value, composition, design, and technique. Because color is regarded as interpretive and expressive, artists may feel they have license to disregard color principles; however, just because a color speaks you on an emotional level doesn’t mean it works in the context of the entire painting. Expressive color is ultimately a commitment to smart color. Within a painting, color choices serve both a subjective and a practical a purpose.

Combining pure color with neutrals. If only pure color is used, and used everywhere, then nothing will stand out. Put another way, everything stands out and there are no relief from the intensity. Referring once again to a musical analogy, all primary, pure color is like chorus of sopranos. If a single baritone is added to the chorus, then suddenly the sopranos are heard in a different context and the baritone takes on special meaning. If pure color is contrasted with some “less pure” neutrals, then the colors will seem that much brighter and the presence of neutrals will add variation to the color arrangement. Contrast of color — bright versus dull — can be much more interesting than a field of all-bright. See Lyle Silver's painting below.

Lyle Silver, Near Laconner, 2007, oil bar, 24" x 27". Lyle Silver uses an expressive, high-key palette; yet he keeps the arrangement of colors believable in several ways. Although his colors are clearly leaning toward the high-key, they are not completely pure. The absolutely purest colors are reserved only for a few spots. However, he contrasts the brighter colors against some neutrals: in the darker shadows in the foreground and some of the dark reds therein; in the ochres of the ground planes and the distant hills; and in the gray-blue patches along the hill. Neutral colors tend to recede. These "grayer" colors, reserved for the background, helps set those areas back. Even with as many divergent colors as he uses (virtually every one in the spectrum) there is an overall warmth throughout. Virtually every color is tinged with a warm factor: certainly the reds, yellows, and oranges; even blues hold a yellow component.

The book Society of Six: California Colorists by Nancy Boas is filled with many excellent examples of expressive color.

The Harmony of neutrals

Speaking of neutrals, they are another way to bring colors into agreement. As colors become increasingly neutral or gray, they also begin to harmonize — not through a similarity of color, as in analogous harmony, but through a common association to the absence of color. A pure neutral is a perfect middle-gray with no color bias at all. In Veil Falls (below), the unity of color is achieved through a common association to the absolute "no color" gray. The color map for Veil Falls (to the right of the painting), shows 25 representative colors from the painting. There are subtle cool and warm shifts, and hue shifts toward blue or green, yet each shares something in common with the middle gray.

Artist T. Allen Lawson creates harmony in many of his works with neutrals. What's more, his neutrals in combination with a limited palette also help establish an extremely unified light and atmosphere.

Mitchell Albala, Veil Falls, 2007, oil on canvas, 30" x 30"

Gamblin Colors website: a wealth of information

I continue to be impressed by the length and depth of helpful information offered by Gamblin Colors website. They have gone to greater lengths to educate artists than any other oil painting manufacturer. What's more, the information isn't merely technical; it's intended to help artists work smarter and make better choices about their process and their approach to color. They also offer a free subscription to Gamblin Studio Notes. Scott Gellatley, also a top notch landscape painter, is their technical consultant and is always open to fielding your technical questions. His email: scott@gamblincolors.com

Book recommendations

Wolf Kahn Pastels by Wolf Kahn. One of Amercia's best known landscape painters gives a generous, erudite glimpse into his creative process. Whether of not you're a pastel artist, this book is a must read. Review at Amazon.

Society of Six: California Colorists by Nancy Boas. Painters Selden Gile, August Gay, Louis Siegriest, Maurice Logan, Bernard VonEichman, and William Clapp formed the Society of Six in 1917 in northern California, where they worked and exhibited together into the 1920s. All were outdoor painters whose canvases were freely brushed, vividly colored, and influenced by both the California landscape and the European Impressionism that they saw for the first time during their active years. Review at Amazon.

Society of Six