Blog – Celebrating Color

How to Make Tube Greens Look Natural

May 17, 2017 By Carol McIntyre

You may be asking, “Yikes! Is Carol going to discuss how to mix with green tubes of paint?!”

As many of you know, I am not a fan of green paint that we can buy in tubes no matter the medium. I much prefer mixing green with yellows and blues as described and demonstrated in my free Mix Greens with Ease e-book. I have never liked tube greens. The top two reasons are, 1. They do not look natural, and 2. Most of them have a very strong tintorial strength and can be over powering. For some reason, my reaction to tube greens is similar to hearing chalk screeching on a black board.

At the same time, I know that many painters have tube greens on their palettes, such as: Viridian, sap green, and permanent green, etc. Given their popularity, I thought I would share with you a few color charts showing how you can mix more natural looking greens using these tube greens. Don’t get me wrong, these unnatural greens do come in handy when painting a green glass vase or creating a sense of fantasy, such as the Wizard of Oz. 🙂 Abstract paintings are open game when it comes to color.

How Do You Make Tube Greens Look Natural?

This first chart displays how I mixed the watercolor tube greens of Winsor green and Viridian with three different reds. You can also see three different ratios of green and red in the rows.

There are some yummy dark greens as well as delightful blue greens that you would find in spruce trees, a deep forest or back in the distance of a landscape painting. Where else could you apply these greens? Because I am mixing the color opposites of red and green, I added only a bit of the red to maintain the integrity of green. It may take some practice in achieving these different hues.

Then I duplicated this chart but this time I added a little bit of aureolin (for those of you who do not know watercolor paints, aureolin is a transparent green-yellow similar to Hansa yellow light) to Viridian and Winsor Green respectively. Notice how the resulting greens warm up nicely and look even more natural.

These next two color charts show the results of mixing three different oil tube greens with the corresponding cadmium red, rose and Indian red. Do these appear natural looking to you? Which ones would you use in a floral, landscape or abstract painting?

Next, I mixed only Viridian with two different yellows – lemon yellow and Hansa yellow medium – as seen in the first row of greens in the chart below. I then mixed this yellow + green mixture with the same reds as above. The subtle differences are difficult to see in this digital format. Time to try out your own chart of greens?

Of course there a many variations of these charts given the colors available to you. Which are you inspired to try mixing?

In the end, mixing my greens with yellows and blues remains my preference over using tube greens. I prefer this because I will have used those same yellows and blues in other mixtures in my painting which creates more unity throughout the piece. However, we live in a world of many options and color is personal. Enjoy making discoveries about color and learning what tickles your fancy.

What is your preference? Does it vary depending on what you are painting? Hopefully the above has inspired you to further explore your colors.

Please share this post with other painters who may benefit from this information. Thank you!

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Amsterdam vs Iceland – A Visual Contrast

May 12, 2017 By Carol McIntyre

Most creatives love to travel to enhance our experiences of the world, seek inspiration and visit iconic museums. Recently, husband Bob and I embarked on a 12-day vacation to Amsterdam and Iceland. Before we left, I speculated we would experience a contrast in colors, but I did not know what other gems we would encounter.

For fun, I have created several photo collages to highlight this Amsterdam vs Iceland experience. They are two eye-catching countries. By the way, the weather was chilly – ranging from 42-52 degrees — rainy and cloudy for much of the trip, though you will see a few blue skies in my photos. The most spectacular weather day was while we were visiting the Kuekenhof Gardens where the tulips were on masterful display. It is actually an 80 acre park with over 7 million tulips!! I was thrilled because this was the main reason I wanted to take this vacation. The tulip gardens had been on my bucket list for years.

For starters, these two photos below show you my view from the airplane while landing in Amsterdam (left photo) and then landing in Iceland (right photo). Iceland’s overall landscape feels like an inhabited moonscape that holds some fascinating natural wonders.

Amsterdam is noted for its canals and boat houses, whereas Iceland is famous for its waterfalls and rainbows. Unfortunately we did not see any of the latter. The wind was blowing so hard that day at the falls, I could barely hold the camera. It is a spectacular waterfalls – very Niagara Falls like.

Tulips were in abundance in and outside of the famous gardens as seen on the left. We spent 3.5 hours there and still did not walk the entire park. The Icelandic alphabet is bursting with 32 characters. I thought you might like to try pronouncing these two Icelandic town names. Do you think texting might be a challenge in Iceland?

Visiting the inspiring Van Gogh and Rijks Museums was another real highlight. Here I am up close and personal with Rembrandt’s “The Night Watch.” I stood there in awe as I tried to imagine painting this in 1642 and at the size of 12 x 14 ft! Meanwhile, I saw this curious looking waterfall along an Iceland road. It shimmered like metallic copper. This rock is called jasper.

The fields of tulips were alive, whereas in Iceland the moss covered lava rock with the occasional mountain were a very frequent sight as we drove the countryside. Many of the mountains would jut straight up from the ground in muffin like shapes.

King’s Day is celebrated every April 27th in the Netherlands (technically Holland is a province of the Netherlands). It is an excuse to wear orange, party all day and hail to the King. Many revelers were in boats on the canals. It was great fun. In Iceland, we were excited to see the geyser show itself. Geothermal energy heats much of the country. We visited the self-sustaining energy plant (there is no waste), which was enlightening.

Taxi drivers and tour guides told us that there are more bikes in Amsterdam than there are people. I believe I heard them say there are over 1.2 million bicycles. One does need to be careful when crossing the street because they can be hazardous to your health. In contrast, Iceland, it seems, is covered with green moss. Is there an abstract painting in there somewhere?

The Netherlands have their windmills and Iceland has the Blue Lagoon Geothermal Spa. It is actually this color of blue and those are black lava rocks. Thousands of people enjoy this hot spring every year. I can only imagine what it would be like late on a summer evening.

In the city of Reykjavik, Iceland’s capital, many two story murals can be found while walking the streets.

As you can well imagine, I took many photos of tulips within the gardens. Here are a few of my close-up favorites.

And no vacation would be complete without live music. It is difficult to imagine the comprehensive sound of a symphony orchestra produced by two violins, three accordions, and a tuba, playing Bach and Vivaldi! That’s what we heard from the Russian musicians of “The Compatible,” under the tunnel running through the Rijks Museum. In contrast, but equally surprising, was this group of Icelanders playing salsa style music from the Caribbean in the stunning performing arts center in Reykjavik.

Thank you for joining me on this journey and that you enjoyed my Amsterdam vs Iceland comparison. This trip was truly a visual feast. What will my artistic brain and heart create as a result? I have no clue, though I know the images and interactions will incubate and manifest in some unexpected way.

Where have your travels taken you? How have they influenced your work? I would love to hear about your experiences and subsequent impact.

If you enjoyed this post, please feel free to share it.

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What is the Color of the Year and Why Care?

April 26, 2017 By Carol McIntyre

The trumpets have blared! ~~~~ for 2017, the Pantone color of the year is Greenery! I always look forward to learning about the chosen color of the year. First of all, it’s just fun to see and then to read about how these colorists and designers came up with their decision. Secondly, it is interesting to learn what is trendy in the world of color; this decision impacts many areas of design and fashion. And thirdly, I like to see if it is a color I would want to incorporate into my paintings.

In recent years, I have noticed that the chosen colors are more positive and lively. What color trends have you observed?

This year I found the video that shows the 2017 spring Pantone fashion color schemes as this relates to the color of greenery. I had not seen this before. It’s really interesting and fun to see. Hence, I wanted to share it with you. Why? Because the numerous color palettes for the color the year might be inspirational to you for possible paintings. Watch and see if there are any color schemes that you like.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zC75u81VKgPantone

I thought I would share with you some examples of what I mean. Below is my abstract painting “Spirit Dance,” that incorporates the green and pink/red color palette above.

This next color scheme from the fashion video (FYI, I paused the video and took a screen shot of the image). You can see how it is almost monochromatic; this along with the blues conveys a calm effect.

An example of this blue palette is seen in a small landscape of mine, entitled “Through the Passage.” What might you paint using this color palette?

These next two images are other screens shots I took of color palettes shown in the color of the year video. Have you completed paintings in the past that apply any of these color schemes? Perhaps they might inspire a future painting?

Did you notice that not all of these color schemes include Greenery, the color of the year? Yet, here is a helpful resource available from which to benefit.

The next time you are stuck on a color scheme or just out looking for inspiration, consider watching this color of the year video or perusing the Pantone website.

If you found this post helpful, please share it with your friends and fellow artists.

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How Do You Interpret Abstract Art?

March 20, 2017 By Carol McIntyre

Have you ever wondered how to interpret abstract art? In my humble opinion, if an abstract painting is compelling, it will have something that retains your attention, draws you in, keeps you looking and generates an emotional and/or intellectual response.

Before I continue, I want to stop and define what I mean by abstract art. I am referring to two-dimensional paintings that do not contain any recognizable subject. To be more accurate, I am discussing about what is called non-objective art. Non-objective art is clunky to say and write, so bear with me as I use the easier phrase of ‘abstract art.’ My apologies if I offend anyone.

Some Questions You Could Ask Yourself When You Interpret Abstract Art:

Whether you like abstract art or not, consider theses questions as a place to start when you are viewing an abstract painting

Am I trying to figure out what it looks like or represents rather than allowing something to emerge from what has been painted? [Read more…]

Alcohol Obsessed Painting is Not For Drunks

March 4, 2017 By Carol McIntyre

What is ‘alcohol obsessed painting?’ As a creative, do you sometimes find yourself obsessed with some technique or skill that you would like to learn? My latest obsession is alcohol. No, not the kind that comes in a whiskey bottle, but the rubbing or isopropyl alcohol that you can purchase in any grocery or pharmacy for about $0.79.

Below you can see the under painting for 3 different paintings where I used alcohol to create amebae-like shapes. You can probably surmise that I am, in fact, obsessed with this alcohol technique! LOL! Many would say that I have gone overboard.

How Do I Create These Alcohol Obsessed Paintings?

Please let me start out with a qualifier: I have only been experimenting with this obsession for a couple of months, so I know I have more to learn. Your suggestions and experiences are welcomed.

These are my basic materials:

[Read more…]