Friday 8 October 2010
A failed museum visit: drove 120 km to find the museum closed during its normal hours of operation, with no indication as to why.
Friday, October 8, 2010
Thursday, October 7, 2010
Thursday 7 October 2010
Course work: Constructed the grid for Stage Four on 45.7 x 61 cm paper; I expanded this project to 24 eight-cm squares in order to improve my understanding of the subject. Started painting the squares.
Reading and theoretical studies:
Stephen Quiller Painter’s Guide to Color
Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1999
Pp. 35-70
E.H. Gombrich, The Story of Art
Phaidon press Limited, Oxford 1978
Pp. 31-45
Sketchbook work: An experiment using red oxide, yellow ochre, and cerulean blue as “primaries.” A color circle done with these yields a neutral green, a neutral orange, and a rich chocolate color instead of a purple (since red oxide and cerulean blue are near-complements). This palette would be useful in late autumn and winter in the American Deep South, where snow is rare and some green is always present. (I am interested in exploring limited palettes, and plan several more similar experiments.)
Time today: Three hours 18 minutes (64h29m)
Course work: Constructed the grid for Stage Four on 45.7 x 61 cm paper; I expanded this project to 24 eight-cm squares in order to improve my understanding of the subject. Started painting the squares.
Reading and theoretical studies:
Stephen Quiller Painter’s Guide to Color
Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1999
Pp. 35-70
E.H. Gombrich, The Story of Art
Phaidon press Limited, Oxford 1978
Pp. 31-45
Sketchbook work: An experiment using red oxide, yellow ochre, and cerulean blue as “primaries.” A color circle done with these yields a neutral green, a neutral orange, and a rich chocolate color instead of a purple (since red oxide and cerulean blue are near-complements). This palette would be useful in late autumn and winter in the American Deep South, where snow is rare and some green is always present. (I am interested in exploring limited palettes, and plan several more similar experiments.)
Time today: Three hours 18 minutes (64h29m)
Wednesday, October 6, 2010
Wednesday 6 October 2010
Course work: Repainted the colored spots in part i of Stage Three of Project Three, some of them several times in order to get adequate coverage. The yellow spots are more striking on the blue and red backgrounds that the blue and red spots are on the yellow background. The blue spot on the red background, and the red spot on the blue background, appear approximately equal in conspicuity.
Painted the squares to demonstrate brush-marks in part ii of Stage Three of Project Three.
One square was painted smoothly, one was painted with horizontal brush-marks, one with vertical brush-marks, and one with diagonal brush-marks. These were then photographed in frontal illumination, with strong tangential lighting from above, and then from the side, to demonstrate the difference in appearance of the brush-marks with different lighting: a composite image is shown below.
Reading and theoretical studies:
Stephen Quiller Painter’s Guide to Color
Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1999
Pp. 71-103
Sketchbook work: A clump of feral pecan trees (planted by squirrels or crows).
Time today: 1 hour 11 minutes
Course work: Repainted the colored spots in part i of Stage Three of Project Three, some of them several times in order to get adequate coverage. The yellow spots are more striking on the blue and red backgrounds that the blue and red spots are on the yellow background. The blue spot on the red background, and the red spot on the blue background, appear approximately equal in conspicuity.
Painted the squares to demonstrate brush-marks in part ii of Stage Three of Project Three.
One square was painted smoothly, one was painted with horizontal brush-marks, one with vertical brush-marks, and one with diagonal brush-marks. These were then photographed in frontal illumination, with strong tangential lighting from above, and then from the side, to demonstrate the difference in appearance of the brush-marks with different lighting: a composite image is shown below.
Reading and theoretical studies:
Stephen Quiller Painter’s Guide to Color
Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1999
Pp. 71-103
Sketchbook work: A clump of feral pecan trees (planted by squirrels or crows).
Time today: 1 hour 11 minutes
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Tuesday 5 October 2010
Course work: (I found the instructions for this project a little nebulous: what follows is my best interpretation.) Started work on Part i of Stage Three of Project Three: painted three 10-cm squares in cadmium yellow, cadmium red light, and cerulean blue. Placed a spot of each of the other two colors within the color square, but will need to paint these spots at least once more to obtain adequate opacity.
Reading and theoretical studies:
E.H. Gombrich, The Story of Art
Phaidon press Limited, Oxford 1978
Pp. 1-30
Sketchbook work: Completed the rooster drawing in colored pencil.
Time today: 2 hours 53 min
Course work: (I found the instructions for this project a little nebulous: what follows is my best interpretation.) Started work on Part i of Stage Three of Project Three: painted three 10-cm squares in cadmium yellow, cadmium red light, and cerulean blue. Placed a spot of each of the other two colors within the color square, but will need to paint these spots at least once more to obtain adequate opacity.
Reading and theoretical studies:
E.H. Gombrich, The Story of Art
Phaidon press Limited, Oxford 1978
Pp. 1-30
Sketchbook work: Completed the rooster drawing in colored pencil.
Time today: 2 hours 53 min
Monday, October 4, 2010
Monday 4 October 2010
Course work: Continuing work on Project Three, Stage Two, I painted the last two columns, using a mixture of cadmium red light and cadmium yellow light to produce my orange for mixing. The column mixed with cerulean blue results in a series of mid-tone neutrals that could be useful in a landscape; the column mixed with ultramarine blue produces the darkest neutrals of the entire Stage, ranging through indigo to blue-black to a very nearly true black, thence to a warm black and to a color that would stand in well for burnt umber.
Reading and theoretical studies:
David Cottington Cubism
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1998
Pp. 58-76
(This book is too short to do the subject justice; I shall look for a more complete work.)
Stephen Quiller Painter’s Guide to Color
Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1999
Pp. 8-33
Sketchbook work: Started a colored pencil drawing of a rooster working from a photo that I took.
Time today: 3 hours 5 minutes
Course work: Continuing work on Project Three, Stage Two, I painted the last two columns, using a mixture of cadmium red light and cadmium yellow light to produce my orange for mixing. The column mixed with cerulean blue results in a series of mid-tone neutrals that could be useful in a landscape; the column mixed with ultramarine blue produces the darkest neutrals of the entire Stage, ranging through indigo to blue-black to a very nearly true black, thence to a warm black and to a color that would stand in well for burnt umber.
Reading and theoretical studies:
David Cottington Cubism
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1998
Pp. 58-76
(This book is too short to do the subject justice; I shall look for a more complete work.)
Stephen Quiller Painter’s Guide to Color
Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 1999
Pp. 8-33
Sketchbook work: Started a colored pencil drawing of a rooster working from a photo that I took.
Time today: 3 hours 5 minutes
Sunday, October 3, 2010
Sunday 3 October 2010
Course work: Painted two more columns as part of Project 3, Stage 2; these two were headed by alizarin crimson and cadmium red light, each mixed with increasing amounts of a green made with cerulean blue and lemon yellow. The cadmium red mixtures shift toward green more quickly than do the alizarin crimson: the latter, more nearly a true complement of the green, produces a truer neutral color. The cadmium red and green mixture can produce a color quite near raw umber.
Reading and theoretical studies:
David Cottington Cubism
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1998
Pp. 32-57
Sketchbook work: A pencil sketch of a piece of ginger root.
Weekly reflections on learning experience: After six painting sessions trying to get a proper grey scale, followed by trying to match the colored squares with the proper grey scale tone, I have more appreciation for the subtleties of tonal difference. Stage 3, mixing the complementary colors, is progressing without major difficulty. Looking back over the course to date, I see that I have worked fairly consistently, with only a few days on which I was unable to do at least a little work on the course. I could devote additional time to reading and study, and it would probably be beneficial to read a few books on technique.
Time today: 1 hour 55 minutes
Course work: Painted two more columns as part of Project 3, Stage 2; these two were headed by alizarin crimson and cadmium red light, each mixed with increasing amounts of a green made with cerulean blue and lemon yellow. The cadmium red mixtures shift toward green more quickly than do the alizarin crimson: the latter, more nearly a true complement of the green, produces a truer neutral color. The cadmium red and green mixture can produce a color quite near raw umber.
Reading and theoretical studies:
David Cottington Cubism
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1998
Pp. 32-57
Sketchbook work: A pencil sketch of a piece of ginger root.
Weekly reflections on learning experience: After six painting sessions trying to get a proper grey scale, followed by trying to match the colored squares with the proper grey scale tone, I have more appreciation for the subtleties of tonal difference. Stage 3, mixing the complementary colors, is progressing without major difficulty. Looking back over the course to date, I see that I have worked fairly consistently, with only a few days on which I was unable to do at least a little work on the course. I could devote additional time to reading and study, and it would probably be beneficial to read a few books on technique.
Time today: 1 hour 55 minutes
Friday, October 1, 2010
Friday 1 October 2010
Course work: After a final session of grey-scale adjustment the scale may still be weighted a bit toward black, but at least the steps appear even to my eye. A lengthy session of placing colored squares, squinting, and replacing them finally resulted in the arrangement that best seems to match color tone with greyscale tone, so I then glued them in place.
I then constructed the grid for Stage 2, and painted the columns for lemon yellow and cadmium yellow, using a violet mixed with alizarin crimson and ultramarine blue as the complement. The neutral colors mixed with lemon yellow and violet tend toward green; those mixed with cadmium yellow and violet tend toward orange. Colors quite near the umbers can be produced with each yellow, and a usable yellow ochre substitute emerges in the cadmium yellow column.
Reading and theoretical studies:
David Cottington Cubism
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1998
Pp. 6-31
Sketchbook work: A charcoal sketch of a battered old tin candlestick (still useful when electricity fails!).
Time today: 2 hours 51 minutes
Course work: After a final session of grey-scale adjustment the scale may still be weighted a bit toward black, but at least the steps appear even to my eye. A lengthy session of placing colored squares, squinting, and replacing them finally resulted in the arrangement that best seems to match color tone with greyscale tone, so I then glued them in place.
I then constructed the grid for Stage 2, and painted the columns for lemon yellow and cadmium yellow, using a violet mixed with alizarin crimson and ultramarine blue as the complement. The neutral colors mixed with lemon yellow and violet tend toward green; those mixed with cadmium yellow and violet tend toward orange. Colors quite near the umbers can be produced with each yellow, and a usable yellow ochre substitute emerges in the cadmium yellow column.
Reading and theoretical studies:
David Cottington Cubism
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom, 1998
Pp. 6-31
Sketchbook work: A charcoal sketch of a battered old tin candlestick (still useful when electricity fails!).
Time today: 2 hours 51 minutes
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