Art Info: Light Influences Color

Local Color Changes with the Light

The main light source is a major influence on the local color of your subject. Is the sun the main light source? What time of day is it? What's the weather like?

Is the main light source a lamp? What kind of lighting does it provide? Cool, warm or natural?

An easy observation is the 'color' of a body of water on a sunny day verses on a cloudy day. What differences do you see?

The key to really knowing how different lighting affects color is through constant observation.

Think about this:
The sky is Blue... the trees are Green... the sun is Yellow. What color is water in a glass? Yeah? Then why is the ocean blue? ...or is it?

Improve Your Art By Avoiding Screaming Colors

"When Everyone is Shouting, No ONE is Heard"

I learned this from one of my college art instructors and I pass it forward to all of my students. Truer words were never spoken!

If all of your colors are intense and bright (screaming), then no one AREA stands out. You have no focal point and your viewer doesn't know where to look. If all you have is chaos, your viewers eye will run away screaming.

Offer Resting Areas
Kind of like a roller coaster, if you don't have some slower, resting areas, there is no thrill for the BEST part. Bright color stands out best against grayed colors. Grayed colors are your resting areas.

So save the intensity for your focal point.

'Nuff said.

Artists Reference: Adding Depth with Rich Blacks

Swap Flat for Rich
Using black straight out of the tube will always leave your work looking flat.

Instead, mix your own rich blacks in oil painting by using variations of Alizarin Crimson, French Ultramarine, Burnt Umber and Windsor Green.

With these four colors you can experiment to create:

• warm blacks
• cool blacks
• reddish blacks
• bluish blacks
• greenish blacks
• brownish blacks
• gray blacks

Try glazing to create rich blacks to enhance your paintings by adding depth and glow to your work.

What is your favorite color combination for creating rich blacks?

Understanding Color: Why Black Is Not Really Black

Black isn't black?
Remember that white vase from a previous post White is Everything but White? Let’s resurrect that vase, cast some shadows on it and study those shadows. Go back outside and take the vase into the shade. Better yet, take it only half way into the shade.

Notice what happens to the white now? It's gray - not black, but it's a gray made of color.

Given a set of paints and a brush, a novice will automatically think, "black" for shadows. An Artist however, sees what I can only describe as the idea of “opalescence”.

The Impressionist Painter Renoir was quoted as saying “No shadow is black. It always has a color. Nature knows only colors … white and black are not colors.”

Chromatic Black
Black tends to dirty colors rather than simply darken them and so, many artists use a mix of rich, deep color that appears to be black. This type of black is referred to as chromatic black and can be mixed in several ways.

My beloved watercolor instructor, Kathy Sutherland taught me this years ago and I love the method. I always mix up a puddle she referred to as “soup” prior to starting a watercolor painting.

Soup Mix
The mix involves a red and a blue mixed with an earth color. I use Ultramarine Blue and Permanent Alizarin Crimson.

Next, depending on the tone of my shadows, I’ll add either Van Dyke Brown, Burnt Sienna, or Burnt Umber. (Some artists prefer Prussian Blue over Ultramarine, but I’ve found Prussian Blue to be too staining for watercolors).

I can adjust the shade to more reddish by pulling in more Alizarin, more bluish by pulling in more Ultramarine or more brownish by pulling in the earth color.

Mixing a small amount of this ‘soup’ into my colors will darken them without killing the color, as a regular black will do.

Thinning this mixture with water will give you that beautiful opalescent look I spoke of earlier.

This concept works for oils as well. Mix it with any color to tone your oils.

How to See More Colors than Most People!

Want to really SEE what I’m talking about?

Grab a pencil and paper. Now go find a rose - a real one (you don't have to pick it). An artificial flower won't work - honest.

Choose a colorful blossom that is pink or peach or variegated, to make it easier this first time (dark reds or whites are more difficult).

Spend 10 minutes studying the color of this rose. Write down every color you see.

After about 5 seconds you'll have listed the basic colors and feel like you are done.

Keep looking!

You'll begin to see subtle color differences. Make up names for them. You might see: soft peach, rosy peach, orangey peach, golden peach, pinkish peach, pale pinkish peach, pale pinkish-yellowish peach, greenish peach (yup, I said greenish peach).... you get the idea.

Aim for a listing of 100 different colors.

The point isn't to uniquely "name" each color. The point is to "SEE" the differences in the colors. Make note of all those subtle, subtle changes.
 
When you can see it, you can paint it. When you can paint it, your paintings will glow.

Now obviously, these images that I have on my blog can't possibly show you the amazing variations of color. You can look at photos and images on the web - but you still won't see all the colors until you sit down with the actual object (rose, tree trunk, lemon, whatever....) and STUDY it with the eyes of an Artist.

Understanding Color: White is Everything BUT White

White Vase Artificial Light

Why White, Isn't
White is affected by the light in which it is bathed and by the colors of objects that surround it. A white object reflects the colors within its environment.

In fact, all colors reflect the other colors in their environment, and all colors change according to the lighting - and so should your paintings.

Confused?
Consider a white vase. Drenched in warm artificial light from a lamp, it will appear yellow or unnaturally warm.

The white may even pick up shades of pink and orange along with the slight yellowness.

White Vase in Sunshine

White Vase in Shade

Take the white vase (or any white object of your choice) outside on a clear blue sky day.

The white now appears bluish or cool in comparison to the indoor white. Sunlight striking the white vase is usually warm, but we are comparing it now to the indoor light.

Next place your white object into full shade and study the changes of lighting. The lighting will appear cooler than the vase in full sun.

Now move it into half shade, half sun and watch what happens.

Pay attention to the different values within the shadow areas. Notice whether your white has a yellow quality or a blue quality.
 
Finally, hold it next to a red flowering bush. Look closely. The white will reflect the green from the bush and the red from the flowers.

White Reflecting Red

Tint That White
Tinting your white, whether it’s the paint from the tube or the white of your paper, will give your whites life and vibrancy. Save the pure white for your highlights and those highlights will pop.

Study white objects and notice the value changes. Place color next to the white and watch how the white reflects the color (you might also notice how the color reflects the white).

It's all these subtle integrations of color within color, within color within color, that painters add into their work to create that alive look. It takes a lot of looking to start seeing all of the other colors within a base or local color. The more you do this, the more you will see.