The Fascination of Water Painting, Essay Example

I have always been impressed by the ability of artists that work with water paintings and their artistic ability in order to create and mix colours.  It is without doubt that you need an artistic creative flair in order to produce great works of art. Nevertheless, it is the ability to both select and mix colours that make such paintings stand out and denote the signature of the artist producing them.  For example in the picture above look how the fall colours of red and gold have been captured in order to portray the focal theme of a beautiful picture of the fall. The painting is entitled “Fire on the Water” by Audrie Sumner and it cleverly shows the interaction of the sunlight and fall colours reflected on the stream below.

When selecting paints it is always best to use high quality paints and start off with the six basic colours. You need to go to the pigment colours and amongst the quality paints are those of Daniel Smith watercolours.  The best 6 colours to select are a matter of choice but the following types are recommended “ultramarine blue or French ultramarine (PB29), hansa yellow light (PY3), carmine (PR176), phthalo blue GS (PB15), nickel azo yellow (PY150) or hansa yellow medium (PY97), and organic vermillion (PR188).” (Fountain Studio).  The concept of mixing the colours is not really a complex matter. The secret is to imagine what colour you are looking to end up with. If this is going to be a vivid purple you would mix red and blue together.  You can reduce the intensity by adding orange or organic vermillion in order to start toning it down.  Adding a little crimson will deepen the purple.  The secret is that you start from two primary colours i.e. Blue and Red that lead to your secondary colour Purple.  The subtleties of shading then depend on other colours that will either lighten or deepen the colour.  Hence you get the colour wheel “Reds, oranges and yellows are warm colors; Greens, blues and purples are cool colors.” (Fountain Studio)

The actual mixing of the colours is based upon understanding the balance and proportion. Experienced Artists understand this and gain the skill by experimentation and trying many different combinations in order to achieve the desired colour.  Some pigments are more powerful than others and will have stronger tinting capabilities.  You also need to be aware of the impact of the light as colours will vary in appearance according to natural light conditions.  Another secret is where you mix your colours. There will be differences between how they are mixed on the palate and how they are mixed on the paper.  Many artists prefer to mix on the paper in order that they obtain the right tonal and pigment effects.  The key is not to over mix the pigments but lightly brush them together and allow them to form their own specific identity.

A useful way of understanding the power of colours is to examine the work of other artists and list your observations. Start off with easy subjects, like that on the right, and then work up to more complex subjects.  Start by taking 6 observations and then consider how this might influence your colour selections.  For example:

1. The painting has a dark background lighter at the bottom and darker at the top
2. The dark background sharpens the images of the glasses and bottle
3. The shadings of green on the bottle allow the bottom quarter of the bottle to appear filled with wine
4. The colour of the glasses is clever allowing you to see the bottle, the pigments of the glass and the impact of the background colours
5. The label of the bottle is the central point where your eye and light focuses, the lightest colours in the painting
6. The table has been defined by a lighter colour of blue in the background, the gradient of light to deep blue almost meeting black.

Works Cited

Fountain Studio. Learning to Mix Colors. 2010. 19 10 2010 <http://www.fountainstudio.com/watercolor%20tips/tip-mixing_colors.html>.