| Author | Message | ||
  Joanna Advanced Member Username: Joanna Post Number: 164 Registered: 10-2006 |
Indigo and burnt sienna or red-shade phthalo and burnt sienna make my standard black. I love the rich shade it creates. I have found a black I like--it's German Vine Black from Rublev (naturalpigments.com.) It's a bit gritty but the color is a warm not-fully-carbonized black. Very nice. I remember trying lamp black as a kid. HORROR. The fine carbon-black particles absolutely swamped my painting. | ||
Daniel New member Username: Daniel Post Number: 1 Registered: 9-2006 |
I use both paynes gray and indigo as to whichever one fits for my work. Indigo being more rich and a bit more staining. I agree...mixed with burnt sienna is one of my favorites for dark shadows...etc. I never pay much attention to what's a "no..no". Those two colors are a staple for me. | ||
Joanna Advanced Member Username: Joanna Post Number: 156 Registered: 10-2006 |
Speaking of Eugene's "think of it as blue, not gray"--I agree. But I am going to try some other grayed blues like the new Am Journey stone blue. I like gray blues. Holbein makes a ton of them as does Old Holland. Another blue I like is Verditer blue, which has some white in it. I use to eschew pastels and tints (darkened tones) but they have their uses. I'm planning to do a portrait of our recently departed 18 year old Maine Coon cat. She was gray like smoke, and it will be interesting to see if the Stone Blue works for her fur. (She was a bluish, smoke pale gray, like cigarette smoke.) I'm planning a gift for my husband, as it was his cat and we got her when we met (a rescue from the woods.) She was a very popular cat with everyone and a real dear. His birthday is coming up and I thought a framed picture would really please him. AND I MAY USE PAYNE'S GRAY (if I have any laying about) along with the smokey blues. | ||
Eugene Senior Member Username: Eugene Post Number: 427 Registered: 8-2006 |
WE'LL MISS YOU GEORGE- HURRY BACK! | ||
George Unregistered guest |
Hi guys, I thought this would be as good a place as any to post this. I just picked up an additional work a*signment and as a result will not have much time to check in on this page for the next few months. I wanted to let you know so you wouldn’t think I’d fallen off the edge of the earth. | ||
Joanna Advanced Member Username: Joanna Post Number: 155 Registered: 10-2006 |
When I was a kid, I relied heavily on Paynes Gray (Winsor Newton or Grumbacher) and this made my paintings very dull (I have ONE I found in my dad's files after he passed away. Sure enough, I used p.g. on the trees and shadows. Well, I was a school kid.) I also used to use Davy's Gray (a kind of slate gray) and found that was not quite the thing I needed, either. Later on, on my own, I figured out that Payne's was a crutch for me and I stopped buying it and using it in my palette. But some Payne's are a nice grayed-blue and in no way deaden the painting IF as you point out, it's used in the right way. I also banished Van Dyke brown and even now look askance at sepia, neutral tint and burnt umber. Not because I don't think anyone should use it, but I know my weakness would be to muddy the colors and not use purer colors as values to liven the results. For quite a while, I banished gray and black from my palette. I still do not use black unless I am doing something "posterish", I still don't use Payne's Gray at all, and I do use graphite gray (Dan Smith) and two grays from Joe's (Sag Harbour and Getz Gray) for specific purposes. And the same applies to the pastel semi-opaques: I use them for certain emphasis. I happen to REALLY like American Journey's pastels and grays, and you can do some FUN stuff with them for value studies, and lots of other things. Bottom line: use whatever paint you like with a purpose; but don't rely on it as a panacea or crutch when you really could be using something different to achieve your goal. | ||
Maidensmith Member Username: Maidensmith Post Number: 32 Registered: 8-2006 |
I think that if you know how to use a color, as I am sure you do Eugene, it can work for you. By the way, the article in Artist's Magazine about Eugene and others over 60 was great and so inspiring. By the way, sometimes I wonder why art has any rules. | ||
Grizrev Senior Member Username: Grizrev Post Number: 517 Registered: 8-2006 |
It is true that most objections to the use of paynes gray and other tube grays and blacks, is using them unmixed -- rather than mixing one's own grays and blacks. However, some holdouts still object that these tube grays and blacks not only dull a painting when used alone, but also when they are used in a mix. I think that is true only when you over aggressively mix the pigments on the palette, rather than letting the the mix take place on the paper, leaving interesting trace colors and color variations in the painting. As Eugene notes, paynes gray is a cool, bluish gray, not dissimilar to the cool grays we often mix for ourselves with blues and earth colors. Why not use it? Tony Couch, whose paintings always contain vibrant, clear color, often dips his brush in ivory black to darken a mix or a color he wants to subdue a bit to allow other colors to leap out. | ||
Pat Curry Unregistered guest |
My only problem with Paynes Grey is that when used on its own, the color dulls and fades as it dries. But I do like it for mixing as you mentioned. I also like using another "no-no," Ivory Black. It's often described as a "dead" color, but I use it with a touch of blue, red, green, or brown, and it works great. | ||
George Unregistered guest |
Almost every watercolor book published in the 1950’s recommended Paynes Gray, then the neon color craze of the 1970's made it taboo. Another convenience dark that is worth experimenting with is W&N Indigo. It’s a beautiful dark warm blue color. | ||
Eugene Senior Member Username: Eugene Post Number: 426 Registered: 8-2006 |
When I first did watercolors, almost everyone used paynes gray successfully. Then suddenly it was a no no, so I followed everyone else and took it off my palette. I’m thinking of putting it back where it belongs. My teacher in art school, one of the best watercolorist i’ve ever known used it. Think of it as a blue-- not gray. When mixed with burnt sienna or deep reds it makes wonderful rich warm darks And with yellows, beautiful greens. I’m definitely adding it to my palette. We often take what’s written in books as hard and fast rules simply because it’s in print. Authors are wrong too, sometimes. |
