Your choice of paints should depend on your style and subject matter. Figure painters need to be able to mix a range of flesh tones, and landscape painters need to mix greens easily.

Although I continually experiment with new paints, my basic palette looks like the follow chart. Keep in mind that I do a lot of figure painting, and my palette is chosen accordingly.

Items in bold are always on my palette. Brand abbreviations are as follows:

• D/S = Daniel Smith
• D/V = da Vinci
• M/G = M. Graham
• W/N = Winsor & Newton

If I have to paint a large dark passage, I will often set out my paints in mixing cups instead of grabbing paint from a palette well. I will use one cup for each single pigment and then let the colors combine on the page.

I squeeze out lots of paint, roughly the same amount I would use if I were squeezing out toothpaste to go on a toothbrush. Then, I add enough water to bring the paint to the consistency of heavy cream. As I am painting the darks, I try never to rinse my brush until I finish the passage.

As a general rule, mixed combinations of paints work better than lamp black for going dark in watercolor. The main reason for this, I think, has more to do with grays than with blacks. Even the blackest black will usually have some sort of transition around the edges to a lighter color. If we make our blacks with lamp black, then that transition will be a completely neutral gray. We very rarely see a truly neutral gray in nature. Even a neutral gray object will likely be tinted by the color of the light. When we create our darks from a combination of colors, then the transition to lighter values will tend to contain some color and hence mimic the effect of light, creating a more convincing illusion.

The best combination of dark paints you choose will depend on what other paints you are using. Some combinations work better for figure work and earth palettes. Other combinations work better for landscape work. When I am pick a combination, I usually start with a paint that I am using elsewhere in the painting and then add a second paint to make my dark. For example, if I am already using ultramarine blue in my painting, then I will most likely pick a dark that contains ultramarine blue. Here are some of my favorite combinations:

Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue

Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine Blue

Although not the darkest combination you can choose, burnt sienna and ultramarine blue is versatile and easy to work with. You can shift it toward either the cool or warm side, and if you make a mistake it's easy to scrub it out. As an added bonus, the granulation of the ultramarine blue combines with the smoothness of the ultramarine blue to create a lyrical texture.

If you are looking for a dark gray instead of a true black, this is the way to go. And if you want to explore the ultimate limited palette, it is possible to create a handsome painting with just these two pigments.

Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Blue

Burnt Umber and Ultramarine Blue

Burnt umber and ultramarine blue is similar to burnt sienna and ultramarine blue, except that it allows you to go darker. The burnt umber can be a little bit more opaque and difficult to handle than burnt sienna. I find it especially difficult to control wet-in-wet, as most brands tend to spread uncontrollably. If the burnt sienna/ultramarine blue isn't dark enough for you, though, then burnt umber and ultramarine blue will give you a couple of extra steps of value.

Perylene Maroon and Phthalo Green

Perylene Maroon and Phthao Green

This combination will create a healthy black that approaches the darkness of lamp black. As you lighten this combination, the resulting grays will range from a brown to an unsaturated green to a neutral gray. It is especially useful in landscape painting for capturing deep greens in shadow.

As a general rule, it is best to avoid this combination in figure work. Phthalo green is one of the strongest pigments you can use, and it can get out of control in a hurry. Once you put phthalo green on your palette, the smallest dab can work its way into every paint mixture. It is simply too easy to turn a lovely flesh tone into a deathly and jaundiced green by accident.

Perylene Maroon and Perylene Green

Perylene Maroon and Perylene Green

This combination is similar to perylene maroon and phthalo green except, that perylene green is far less assertive than phthalo green. The blacks are virtually indistinguishable from lamp black.

Burnt Sienna and Phthalo Blue Green Shade or Phthalo Turquoise

This is a great combination for landscape work. You can mix a terrific forest green. Although it is not the darkest combination for a dark green, it is incredibly useful.

Quinacridone Orange and Phthalo Blue

Quinacridone Orange and Phthalo Blue

Admittedly, I don't use this combination frequently. Quinacridone orange, which I usually purchase as M. Graham's Quinacridone Rust, and phthalo blue are not everyday colors for me. Consequently, I usually pick other combinations first. All the same, you can mix a great dark with it.

The image at left uses M. Graham Quinacridone Rust and Winsor & Newton Phthalo Blue (Blue Shade)

Brands I use:

M. Graham, Daniel Smith, Winsor & Newton, daVinci

The daVinci version is slightly more saturated than the other brands.

How I Use it:

Perylene Maroon with Phthalo Green

Perylene Maroon with Perylene Green

For Making Darks:

A deep crimson is essential to my palette, and it is most useful for creating darks. Although there are more saturated alternatives to perylene maroon, such as Winsor & Newton's Permanent Alizarin or Daniel Smith's Carmine, nothing beats perylene maroon for its lightfastness or ability to create a rich dark.

A deep green, used in conjunction with perylene maroon, makes an exceptional dark that approaches the darkness of lamp black. My favorite choices are Phthalocyanine Green (also known as Winsor Green) and Perylene Green. Both of these combinations dilute to a lovely, neutral gray.

Mixed greens, such as sap green or hookers green, will not go as dark as a single pigment green.

Perylene Maroon with Cadmium Red Light

For Shadows on Red:

I love to put red objects in my paintings, and M. Graham Cadmium Red Light has long been a favorite red paint. Perylene Maroon is slightly cooler than the cadmium red, and when I use the the maroon in the shadows then red appears to glow in a warm light.

The reason you should paint your background first is simple. The natural tendency in watercolor is to make the initial washes in a painting too light because you are comparing your values to the white of the paper. If you establish your background first, you can compare the values in the foreground to the already established value in the background. Reworking a background value later in the painting is generally not as noticeable as reworking the foreground.

In the following example, I worked on the background for days before I dealt with the foreground. Once the background was complete, I painted with figures in the foreground very quickly at the very end of the process.

Background Painted First

For average caucasian skin, I use Winsor & Newton Raw Sienna or Yellow Ochre (they're quite similar), M. Graham Cadmium Red Light, and a blue, violet, or (rarely) green, The blue depends on the subject, the lighting, and the pigments I am using in the rest of the painting. Cerulean blue is probably the easiest to work with and works best for light-skinned subjects. Sometimes I use Winsor & Newton Cobalt Blue and sometimes I use Holbein Mineral Violet.

When working with fair complexions, I move toward a cooler yellow such as Winsor & Newton Cadmium Yellow Pale. As complexions get darker, I move to darker yellows and earth tones, stepping down from Raw Sienna to a brown ochre to raw umber and finally to burnt umber. An example of how to paint darker skin tones is available.

Reds get warmer as complexions get ruddier. For a young, fair-skinned model I might go with a permanent rose. I will choose a warmer red, such as cadmium red light, for skin that is darker or has been exposed to the sun. For really dark skin, I will choose anything from cadmium red light to even a cadmium orange in some circumstances.

The cool color, used mostly for shadows, is the most difficult to categorize because so much depends on the light source. For shadows I use the same yellow and red that I used in the light, and I add a cool color that neutralizes the yellow and red. The most important thing is to not use too much blue in the shadows. You basically want a darker and more neutral version of what you have in the light.

First, some general rules:

• Values are always relative. You cannot reproduce the actual values that you see, so you have to consider each value in relation to another value on the page.
• Figure out your lightest light, your darkest dark, and your middle values before you begin painting.

A big question for me always is which value to start with. Traditional watercolor advice has always been to start with the light values and work your way to the darks. This strategy, however, produces very anemic paintings for me. I usually prefer to start with a fairly strong value. Here are some specific things that work for me. Of course, sometimes the rules contradict one another.

• Start with the background. I like to start with the sky when I can.
• Start with large areas of value. When I establish a strong middle value with a big, flat brush up front, I have a much better chance of success. When I start with one of my kolinsky rounds, I often fail to establish the big areas of the composition.
• Look for middle values that cut across other areas of value. For example, grass or trees may span a broad area of the painting. The foliage may be lighter than a shadow area and darker than another area in the light. If you establish the middle at the beginning, then you will be better able to judge the other areas of the painting.
• Start with values you can change later Often, my first value statement will be too light. It's better if start with a simple area you can glaze later. For example, if I am doing an architectural subject, with complicated patterns of light and dark, I don't want to have to go in later and rework all the complexity. Not only does this take a lot of time, it overworks the painting as well.

• Don't make the shadows on white objects too dark. The shadow side of a white object is never more than 50% dark. You may have to adjust your other values accordingly.
• Cast shadows come last.

]]> http://watercolorweb.org/2008/01/14/strategies-for-managing-value-in-watercolor/feed/ 0 http://watercolorweb.org/2008/01/14/using-altitude-and-azimuth-tables-to-understand-light-shifts/ http://watercolorweb.org/2008/01/14/using-altitude-and-azimuth-tables-to-understand-light-shifts/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2008 20:09:52 +0000 Marie Matthews http://localhost/wweb/?p=59 I had noticed for several months ago that the light and shadow on an object can change very suddenly and dramatically. This phenomenon was especially noticeable around 1:30 in the afternoon. I figured that the sun must shift from the east side of the sky to the west side of the sky around 1:30. My solution was simply to plan for a lunch break around 1:30. Everything worked fine until yesterday, when I was working in the morning and experienced the same sudden shift in lighting. I decided it was time to learn more about exactly how the sun tracks across the sky.

early morning
photo

late morning
photo

Here is an example of what I encountered. I took the first photo at the beginning of the painting session, around 9:00 a.m. I took the second photo about two hours later. The switch from the lighting conditions of the first photo to the lighting of the second photo happened very suddenly a little after 10 a.m.

When I got home, I found a utility at the U. S. Naval Observatory that will calculate the altitude and azimuth of the sun at specified intervals for any location on any day. This is a very handy tool for learning how to predict shifts in outdoor lighting. Later in the day, I returned to the cemetery with compass and an azimuth table in hand and realized that the tables confirmed what I had observed while painting.

Working outdoors in the summer, there are 4 ways an object can be lighted. Assuming that a building is on a north/south axis*, the lighting changes when the azimuth of sun reaches 90 degrees, 180 degrees, and 270 degrees. In the winter and early spring, the sun crosses the 90 and 270 degree thresholds before sunrise or after sunset. Here are a few illustrations of these phases of light:

Sunrise to 90 degrees

The north and east sides of a building are in sunlight. In early July in Atlanta, this stage lasts from sunrise to 10:20 a.m.

90 degrees to 180 degrees

The east and south sides of a building are in sunlight. This stage lasts from 10:20 a.m. to 1:40 p.m.

180 degrees to 270 degrees

The south and west sides are in sunlight. This stage lasts from 1:40 p.m. to 5:10 p.m.

270 degrees until sunset

The west and north sides are in sunlight. This stage lasts from 5:10 p.m. until sunset.

* - Note: If the building is not on a north/south axis, it is still easy to calculate when the light will change. Simply figure out how many degrees the building is oriented from north, and then add or subtract that interval to the light shift intervals. For example, the north side of my house is actually about 26 degrees west of north. To figure out when there will be a major light shift, I subtract 26 from 90, 180, and 270 respectively, and then read the azimuth table. (return to text)

]]> http://watercolorweb.org/2008/01/14/using-altitude-and-azimuth-tables-to-understand-light-shifts/feed/ 0 http://watercolorweb.org/2008/01/14/post-mortem-on-a-failed-painting/ http://watercolorweb.org/2008/01/14/post-mortem-on-a-failed-painting/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2008 20:09:04 +0000 Marie Matthews http://localhost/wweb/?p=58 Some days the paintings work, and some days they don't. Yesterday's was a real stinker, and I'm trying to figure out why. (Maybe I'll post a picture of it later.) The scene was a group of backlit trees and a tombstone painted late in the afternoon. The foreground was in complete shadow.

What Went Wrong, and what to do about it next time

The drawing was sloppy, but I'll forgive myself for that. I was actually more interested in a reasonably quick value study than in fine draftsmanship yesterday. On to the other issues:

Value

I generally have more success when I establish a strong middle or dark value up front, rather than working from light to dark. The challenge comes in deciding which value to establish first. In this painting, I started with the light yellow/green around the plants, which was probably a mistake. Then I made the greens in the left side of the paintings too dark. I didn't establish my darkest values until the end of the painting. So, what what lessons did I learn?

• Establish a large area of a middle or dark value early on in the process, preferably in an area that I can go back and glaze later. Clear skies are ideal because they are easy to correct later.
• I should have established the darks, the tombstone and the tree trunks, sooner. If I had already established the value of the tree trunks, then I would have known immediately that the background leaves were too dark.

Composition

Composition problems usually turn out to be value problems in disguise. The paintings tend to work better when I play back and forth between what I observe and what I think the abstract design should be. In yesterday's painting, I was much too concerned with trying to capture exactly what I saw.

Color

Although I usually don't squawk too much about color, color was a problem yesterday. (Or was it actually a value problem?) The tombstone and foreground were muddy, even though it was a single wash. Perhaps I should try to darken the tombstone? I'm not sure whether the failure was a value problem or a color problem.

]]> http://watercolorweb.org/2008/01/14/post-mortem-on-a-failed-painting/feed/ 0 http://watercolorweb.org/2008/01/14/lion-4/ http://watercolorweb.org/2008/01/14/lion-4/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2008 20:08:00 +0000 Marie Matthews http://localhost/wweb/?p=57 I was very happy with the latest lion that I painted last Thursday (June 2006).

The ninety-plus degree heat and a code red smog alert made the working conditions less than pleasant. The actual sky was light and hazy; I darkened it considerably after I got home.

My palette for this paint was raw sienna, burnt sienna, cobalt blue, and ultramarine blue.

This lion was a rework of another lion I did a couple of days earlier. In the first attempt, I had a lot of trouble placing the image on the page. He kept winding up smaller than I had originally intended.

]]> http://watercolorweb.org/2008/01/14/lion-4/feed/ 0 http://watercolorweb.org/2008/01/14/demonstration-white-surfaces-in-shadow/ http://watercolorweb.org/2008/01/14/demonstration-white-surfaces-in-shadow/#comments Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:50:54 +0000 Marie Matthews http://localhost/wweb/?p=56 I did another watercolor outside this morning. Although I wasn't entirely happy with the results, I did manage to take pictures after each wash. Here's what I did:

Step 1: Working out a Battle Plan

The subject was a white statue in shadow. The challenge was to get the statue dark enough to read as a shadow and light enough to contrast with the background.

I made some mistakes in the drawing. I had wanted to get the base of the statue up a little higher on the page, but it didn't turn out that way. In other circumstances, I might have erased everything and redrawn it, but the weather was getting hot and the bright sunlight was inching ever closer to my work surface. I opted to proceed with what I had.

Step 2: Establishing a Strong Value

After a *very* light wash of nickel azo yellow and raw sienna in parts of the background, I started in with a strong wash of raw umber, burnt sienna, and ultramarine violet for the tree limbs and the foreground. I made what I thought was a very dark wash.

Step 3: Going for a Darker Value

Next, I wanted the leaves to be as dark as I could make them. Judging against the value I had already established for the tree trunk and foreground, I used thalo blue, burnt sienna, and nickel azo yellow to make the dark green leaves. I added a few drops of gum arabic to my palette to keep the heavy paint fluid as I was working. I made sure to paint carefully around the silhouette of the statue.

Step 4: Painting the Statue

With the medium-dark and dark values established, I was ready to try the statue. Getting the value of the statue right the first time was critical. Taking two tries at the value would almost certainly make the painting labored and overworked. The statue needed to be substantially lighter than the dark of the leaves, but still darker than the full light. I laid in a wash of raw sienna, quinadridone rose, and ultramarine violet. The wash was just a little too dark at the top and I tried to adjust as I went down the page. I wish I had made the wash a little more even.

Step 5: Adjustments and Final Details

After I finished the statue and a few suggestions of trees in the background, I fixed a few things that were bothering me.

I decided that the leaves needed to come down a little lower on the left side of the painting. The big problem, though, was that some of my original darks were simply not dark enough. I made a second pass at some of the leaves and the foreground. In the final stage, I also added the suggestion of the wrought iron fence behind the statue. Although there was indeed a fence behind the statue, I'm not sure that it was a good idea to put it into the painting.

Step 6: Retouching at Home

The big picture is the last picture I took in the field. I may make some minor adjustments at home this evening. I'm not sure yet.

Lessons Learned

... or what I would do differently next time.

• Hitting the strong value at the beginning was important. If I had not been able to judge against the darker values, I am fairly certain I would have made the statue too dark.
• Running the statue off the bottom of the page bothers me. I should have measured more carefully in the beginning.
• The end of the fence and the right side of the tree trunk are almost tangent to one another. I didn't notice that until after I got home. Hmmm.... I'm not sure what to do about it.
• I'm wondering if I could have had some dappled light on the statue. Although I didn't see any light except for a small rim at the top of her head, a touch of pure light may have helped .... or not. I'll try it sometime in the future and see what happens.

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