Can I Paint This Still Life with Just Three Colors Plus White? (It Doesn't Go As Planned)
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- čas přidán 11. 09. 2020
- Excerpt from James Gurney's new teaching video "TRIADS." Download or stream his full-length tutorials at gumroad.com/l/color2
In this extended sample, Gurney demonstrates an outdoor still life using three colors of gouache and watercolor, but then switches colors for a more vibrant result. He also demonstrates how to make a "triad test" to chart the color interactions.
MATERIALS:
Phthalo blue: mgraham.com/gouache-paints/ph...
Quinacridone violet: mgraham.com/gouache-paints/qu...
Cadmium yellow light (gouache): amzn.to/2qIw7LQ
Pyrrole red: amzn.to/2KX4TZn
Ultramarine blue (gouache): amzn.to/2X9GZ1k
Titanium white (gouache): amzn.to/2XSOld4
Pentalic watercolor sketchbook: amzn.to/2L989y2
Richeson travel brush set: amzn.to/2xwq1Rr
Water cup: amzn.to/2soTw2L
Homemade easel: sellfy.com/p/LnZ8/
Tripod: amzn.to/2xrRaFc
Water-soluble colored pencils set: amzn.to/2DKmT5o
OTHER VIDEO TUTORIALS:
"Gouache in the Wild" (Download on Gumroad): gumroad.com/l/gouache
"Gouache in the Wild" on (DVD): kunaki.com/Sales.asp?PID=PX004...
“Casein Painting in the Wild” (Download on Gumroad): gumroad.com/l/casein
“How to Make a Sketch Easel” (DVD): kunaki.com/Sales.asp?PID=PX00Z...
“Watercolor in the Wild” (Download) gumroad.com/l/watercolor
Casein in the Wild: gumroad.com/l/casein
BLOG POSTS WITH MORE GEAR INFO:
Gouache Materials List: gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/201...
Watercolor Materials: gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/201...
BOOKS BY JAMES GURNEY:
Color and Light: A Guide for Realist Painters: amzn.to/2JhWtfc
Imaginative Realism: How to Paint What Doesn’t Exist: amzn.to/2LbVHhc
Dinotopia: A Land Apart from Time: amzn.to/2xyamRM
OTHER OFFICIAL SITES
Instagram: / jamesgurneyart
Pinterest: / gurneyjourney
GurneyJourney Blog: gurneyjourney.blogspot.com/
JamesGurney Website: jamesgurney.com/
Facebook group "Sketch Easel Builders": groups/40300...
Facebook group “Color in Practice”: / 160510955315435
“LIVING SKETCHBOOK” APP
Experience one of James Gurney's sketchbooks on your smartphone or tablet.
For iOS at iTunes: itunes.apple.com/us/app/livin...
For Android at Google Play: play.google.com/store/apps/de...
CAMERAS and AUDIO:
Canon M6 (time lapse, video, and stills): amzn.to/2J4RTgX
Canon PowerShot Elph (point-and-shoot): amzn.to/2Ji1Vid
Zoom H2N digital audio recorder: amzn.to/2XXAOfP
Rode Video Mic GO (microphone): amzn.to/2UQGTc9
One of the most persistent misconceptions in color theory is that there are "primary" colors from which all other colors can be mixed. It goes all the way back to Issac Newton, who did a lot of experiments with light and prisms. The problem is that paint doesn't perform like light because paint absorbs all wavelengths of light except those it reflects. Thus, when you mix two colors (besides white), you will always get a darker or duller color than either of the originals.
When you mix a color like orange, you want a blend of yellow and red, right? But the reason yellow and red aren't orange is because they absorb those orange wavelengths of light instead of reflecting them (I'm oversimplifying here, but bear with me). When you mix yellow and red, the areas where they reflect light overlap to give us orange, but those areas where they absorb *also* overlap, giving us a duller orange.
Because of this effect, if you want a high chroma paint, you either have to use the color straight from the tube (assuming it's a single-pigment paint), or you have to create the color by mixing colors that are as close to it as possible. Thus, if you want to mix a bright orange, you need to use an orange-yellow paint (AKA "warm yellow" or "deep yellow") and an orange-red paint (AKA scarlet, or "warm red"). If you use a greenish yellow ("light yellow" or "cool yellow") and a cool red (magenta), then you'll get a dull orange, as in this video.
The other issue is that, although we have hundreds of pigments to choose from, we don't have perfect pigments. Some pigments don't mix well (pyrrole orange doesn't mix as bright colors as cadmium orange). Some pigments shift hue when you dilute them (like green gold). Some pigments are opaque or granulating, which can affect how the mixed color appears. Some colors are so dark and rich that they actually increase in chroma when you dilute them (like dioxazine violet and phthalos). What appears to work on a color wheel won't necessarily work out that way when you're using quirky, imperfect pigments.
There is a color mixing strategy popularized by the book "Blue and Yellow Don't Make Green" by Michael Wilcox. This is the warm/cool primary palette, with a "warm" and "cool" version of red (scarlet and magenta), blue (blue-violet and cyan), and yellow (green-yellow and orange-yellow). While this is headed in the right direction, it's still inefficient. A warm red and warm yellow won't mix as bright of an orange as an orange straight out of the tube. You can increase the chroma and versatility of your palette by just using three primaries and three secondaries (yellow, orange, red, violet, blue, and green), but you'll still have issues mixing cyan and magenta. To maximize your color range, you can use an 8-color palette: yellow, orange, red, magenta, violet, blue, cyan, and green. Provided you choose pigments that behave well in mixes and are the highest chroma possible, you'll be able to mix almost every color you encounter.
But being able to mix everything is not necessarily what artists are aiming for. The purpose of a limited palette is to force color harmony, simplify mixes, and reduce the amount of colors you have to buy/carry. In that case, you should choose your colors based on which subjects you intend to paint. If you're going to paint natural scenes, purple is usually the first color to get sacrificed since it's found so rarely in nature. Green can also be sacrificed because most natural greens are muted anyway. Thus, for natural subjects, a triad of red, yellow, and blue will work better than magenta, yellow, and cyan. However, if you're like me and love cool colors but aren't that into warms, magenta and cyan work better because I know I'm less likely to be inspired to paint warm-toned things in nature.
In the end, the "best" primary palette comes down to personal preference. However, it's important to remember the *principle* that the further away two colors are on the color wheel, the more muted the resulting mix will be. If you really want to dig into color theory, this site has a ton of info: www.handprint.com/HP/WCL/color18a.html
Thanks, very interesting useful info
Thanks!
I truly wish I had the intention span to read all of this😭
Perhaps the simple warm/cool palette is the best:
Cad red light-Alizarin crimson replacement (actual alizarin is fugitive)
Cad yellow-Cad lemon yellow
Ultramarine/Cerulean blue
Cad orange or a high chroma modern pigment orange
And certainly Yellow ochre, raw sienna, burnt sienna and raw umber for landscapes
@@maki9972 same- lost me when I saw a SECOND PARAGRAPH 😭
I thought this video was 10 minutes but I checked and I’m 30 minutes in without realizing. The way you paint is so mesmerizing and it’s the first time I’ve ever seen your channel. I’m glad i learned something today
Thank you! Cheers, and welcome to the channel.
Smooth, like gouache paint. I love your dogs name. This was the best video I’ve seen you do yet. I used to travel the world, spent several years in Asia and then 2yrs ago I lost my 11yr old son. I never leave the house now, but painting from photos is so limiting, so much in color and light is lost. This has inspired me to set up a still life in the morning sun in my kitchen. It’s blindingly bright, but I need to get really creative so I don’t run out of subject matter. And maybe one day I’ll venture out again 💙
It's almost a real-time painting session! This is such a generous gift, Mr. Gurney. I have Color and Light the book, as well as some of your Gumroad tutorials which remain fascinating every time I revisit. One of the most valuable lessons I've learnt from great teachers like you is that drawing/painting is a problem solving process, asking for constant scrutiny rather than ...magical hand-eye coordination. You truly are a great inspiration to art lovers of all ages, and thankfully you love digital videography and made yourself accessible to everyone in the world. Greetings and endless gratitude from the far land of Vietnam!
I started painting with oils today! It was much less intimidating than i expected! :)
Well that explanation of gouache by Holbein really explains a lot! Their gouache is far superior to others I've tried. Worth every penny!
Yes, Holbein makes an excellent line of gouache but also "Acryla Gouache," which feels like gouache, but dries with an impermeable emulsion.
Absolutely! James, your explanation was fantastic! Holbein are now on my wish list 😋😆
@@JamesGurney what does impermeable emulsion mean?
Love your work ofc
@@martinoakes9188 it means the dried paint won’t get diluted by water
Wow, this answered a lot of my questions regarding the choice of primary colors, especially the matter of "true primaries" - the introduction of gamut really helps to understand why there is no real true primary color for painting. I love how you covered this in your book but this is by far the best video demonstrating it and comparing primaries... Thank you very much!! Your videos are incredibly inspiring, your relaxing voice combined with your immense knowledge really motivate me to paint. And because of you I got into gouache and don't regret it... It's what I wanted acrylics to be!
"It's what I wanted acrylics to be." You said it, Mat.
James Gurney very punny
Yes! I love limited palettes! Everyone has their favorite color primaries to use.
had you used lemon yellow, magenta and cyan you would have gotten the brightest colors possible and the entire range of the rainbow! Personally i use those 3 colors and I've never had problems getting the necessary colors
I have watched hundreds -- perhaps a thousand -- of art technique videos. This is one of the very best. It helps that james is not only a gifted artist, but a gifted teacher as well. His commentary explains not just what he's doing, but why, and he is just as forthright and helpful when making corrections. He also introduces useful tools. Thank you, James, and keep up the good work!
Great video. Your work always amazes me. I discovered a great CMYK-like palette for watercolor. QoR Nickel Azo Yellow, QoR Quinacridone Magenta, and QoR Cobalt Teal. It works great, even the oranges come out decent (and orange is a bear of a color to get right in CMYK). I wrote a blog about it a while ago. I was happy with the palette as I convert a lot of my art for press.
Thanks for sharing! I want to try out that triad.
I've seen other artists (in other mediums) get decent results using cyan, magenta, and yellow. I think part of the problem you had getting good reds and oranges is the violet you used for magenta. It was bluer than ideal. I don't know if there are other pigment options you could use for a magenta watercolor paint, but I think it's a study worth pursuing.
Yes, the "magenta" he used at first wasn't anything like process magenta. I use CYMK plus white sometimes and you have to pick your process colours very carefully to make sure that you can make balanced and saturated secondary colours. I think maybe James Gurney deliberately mischose these colours to demonstrate the importance of the initial choice for beginners. :)
I have seen other artists use m.graham's: hansa yellow
quinacridone rose
phthalocyanine blue
So that is what I bought to check out this method and it works! I am able to get vibrant reds, oranges and a variety of greens. I hope he sees this and checks out those colors.
People usually choose a phtalo green blue for their blue in this instance not ultramarine
In fact was a violet not a magenta, a quinacridone magenta would work much better.
I've just discovered why painting is so difficult for me. I use so many different tubes of paint! I think deciding a color palette BEFORE making a painting is such an essential and often overlooked painting skill.
This may be helpful as I stated above.
Perhaps the simple warm/cool palette is the best:
Cad red light-Alizarin crimson replacement (actual alizarin is fugitive)
Cad yellow-Cad lemon yellow
Ultramarine/Cerulean blue
Cad orange or a high chroma modern pigment orange
And certainly Yellow ochre, raw sienna, burnt sienna and raw umber for landscapes
I'm strongly disinclined to believe you "learned" this sort of color theory while doing this, lol; but it occurs to me you're a very humble teacher to go so far to demonstrate the "mistake" without admitting you already knew it wouldn't work.
He is. His fame is pre CZcams and he’s worked with Thomas Kinkaide, so he knows what he’s doing.
I love the balance you have found between providing actually useful free content while also promoting your paid classes that obviously go even more in depth. Kudos!
Stunning still life. It seemed to me a good demonstration of how much detail and colour information is lost by working only from reference photos rather than plein air
I love to watch you work not because I am a visual artist but because I was married to one and in his absence I miss watching him work. He was highly talented like you and a watercolorist - which is such a specialized talent. So thankyou.
i love how it's clearly the roundness of the pot in the painting, so professional and amazing!
This painting has a different feeling in it. It has the feeling of spirit in it
The problem with the first painting was the use of Quinarcidone Violet.
It’s actually quit a dull violet in comparison to the magenta you were requiring. MGraham doesn’t make a QuinMagenta, don’t know why.
I love using QuinViolet in oils to make brown, just add yellow.
I love the concept of what you did here. Speaking as someone who has worked in digital graphics and printing. Most large scale graphic printers work with at minimum of eight to twelve colors. Most digital printers use a lighter and brighter magenta ink. The magenta you used looks like it contained a bit of blue or maybe even black, much more subdued. Great study of color, and excellent video!
The thing is that you used the subtractive wheel to select your color when those paints follow the additive color wheel since you're mixing them in the pallet rather than layers. That's why some colors look a bit dull.
its fantastic that theirs now a visual library i can go to, i own all of your books and they are a staple of any artists library but never knew about this youtube channel until a week ago when someone told me about it, its weird that a living artist like yourself is a core foudation to most peoples work your up their with reiley, bridgeman and loomis, you simply cant talk about light and colour theory without your name being mentioned, and usually that aclaim is reserved for artists before our time, thank you for the knowledge in your brain and seeing your thought process in action just has opened up a whole new thinking method you realy cant comprehend with just your books.
My first time watching you paint. I love how your painting evolves into a very painterly look. Beautiful!
Thank you so much!
Looking forward to watching this!
Never has a teapot and a bit of fruit been so exciting.
Hey James,
Thank you so much for making this content. It makes me proud to be an artist and learn to see. I always appreciate the clearness of each of your statements, not watering it down to slow the pace for advanced artists, but also not explaining it too complicatedly for beginners. You are a fine artist, and from what I can tell, a fine gentleman. You seem like a great person to just sit with and paint, as well as a wealth of tested and true information. Thanks again. Your videos always make me so happy!
An answer to one of the questions brought up a great point- originals.
If you’re a digital artist, make sure to print out nice high quality prints of your work. There’s nothing like seeing your work there in front of you in real life. Sign it and call it your original.
Mr. Gurney. Thank you so much for all the tips and info. You truly been like a mentor. You style of painiting fits so well with how I like to paint. For years iv been intemedated by actual painting and stuck to pencil, but after watching you Im more confident in watercolor and looking forward to try new mediums. ❤️ From a self taught painter.
This is a treat to watch!
This hole channel is GOLD!! Thank you so much!!
Looking forward to this!!!
This is such good learning for me! THANK YOU
Beautiful beautiful beautiful work
So great to see your process! Thanks James, i learned a lot
This is amazing. Thank you so much for sharing
Fantastic Tutorial James. Thank you.
This painting is just beautiful!! I'm always amazed!!
very nice and helpful! Thank you for sharing this for free
How I wish I can do that, thank you for the idea 🥰
This is just so good again ... 🤯 Thanks Mr. Gurney!
Beautiful painting, great tutorial! Thank u so much for sharing this.
Great tutorial, love the long form. Could watch it all day 🙏❤️
Love this painting you did with the 3 colors.
Always real enjoyable watching you. Thank you for another great video.
Fantastic to watch! Thank you 🙏🏼
I love your Works. Congratulations
James, I love that you're creating some longer videos! Thankyou so very much! 💗
Great class and painting! Thanks for sharing your experience!!!
Awesome painting 🖼
Love your explanations and close up shots.
The madman of Gouache at work. The paintings shown at the end are so gorgeous I feel the need to cry.
Thank you James, your videos are so informative and incredibly calming to watch!
It's magical! Awesome! Thanks for the lesson and the desire to draw.
man its peaceful to watch and learn from Mr Gurney. Thank you very much!
Looking forward to this!
Excellent !! Marvelous !!
I’ve allways been so gratefull for all that you have done all through these years. Thank you so much for being sooo generous.
Great tutorial! I love how you change so much and end up with perfection!💁🏼♀️👍🏼
Loving the watch for indicating passage of time!
Mesmerizing. What a technique. Thank you for this incredible insightful information.
Thanks James!
I would be so proud to have that in my home. Beautiful work
Thank you for your showing about colour combinations and examples with explanation .☺
Thank you for sharing this... you are so amazing and inspiring with this medium...
You are a joy to listen to and watch. And the most amazing teacher.
Thank you so much , I'm very new at this medium❤
Another stellar demonstration. Great to see the resolution to what you saw as problems... Thank you for posting James!!
Thank you for this video. It’s really great to see the whole process from start to finish and how just a few colors can make something special
Your talent amazes me. It’s almost hypnotizing.
Your videos are all therapy for the mind and soul ❤
My favorite channel on CZcams. Thank you for all the time and effort you put in your artwork, lessons, and videos.
This was very helpful and well explained. Very appreciated. Thanks
Looking forward to watching the video, still downloading. These limited color techniques really helped with lowering my anxiety and feeling of being overwhelmed by colors! Thank you for literally sharing your vision!
amazing to watch you. wonderful and informative. Thank you.
You are a fabulous teacher. Thank you. I am also enjoying your "Color and Light" book.
Your videos are so helpful.....make me feel a little more adventurous...thank you very much. 😊
WOW it's amazing what you can do with these paints!!! 😲🔥❤
Thank you, James!
Merci beaucoup, très beau et très généreux 😀🙏
I learn so much from your videos. Colour school is always a time well spent.
Keep it up. This channel is awesome. 👍
Greetings from Germany
The way you showed the texture of different objects is just amazing! This is a very helpful video! Thank you
Awesome tutorial, thanks!
This video gave me life and a big smile! And your commentary is very Relaxing and Soothing. A True Artist Mr. Gurney!
Amazing . I didn't get this much information from anyone . I learned a pot about colors from you sir thanks a lot sir . I am really going to try this
Great video! Thank you!
This is a wonderful video. Thank you for sharing
This is a really wonderful lesson! I learned so much from your demonstrating the gamuts and doing your painting 2x. Like Ju, I could watch you paint all day. I absolutely love your Dinotopia books & then found your book on light. Oh my! Each time I pick it up or use it for reference, I get so much out of it. Thank you!!!
superb video!
Eagerly waiting...🙏
As always very inspiring. Heading over to gumroad....
Gorgeous piece.. absolutely stunning. I thought it was perfect before the painting was brightened but the final product is incredible. Amazing work
Really informative....Thanks!
18 and going to college. U r one of my biggest inspirations!!
I love your videos thanks for sharing your talent, you are amazing
James, ever since I saw your Dinotopia book I have been a fan. Thank you for the endless great painting tips.
Every picture is like magic.
I particularly enjoyed this video, James. I always love your work, but getting to see how you handle color situations in the work-in-progress was a nice treat. It's amazing how much more vibrant and dimensional the final still life image is as compared to your first pass with the early triad. Nice work!
i put this on as background noise while i was busy so i wouldn’t miss the anime i was watching but i’m having the greatest time on ur channel now
love that reflection btw
I'm so happy that I landed here, this man truly knows how to walk you through his painting decisions! thank you so much
(sorry if my english didnt sound right, I'm not that good at typing english yet)