Egg Month! Ow....My eyes.

Click Here to Purchase

Oil on Illustration Board

What's in that paintbox? Every once in a while I will acquire a new color that I rarely use. In this case I found a tube of Cadmium Orange and decided to take out for a demo.

The magic of compliments. Adding blue to orange turned the shadows green. Using a bright saturated color keeps one in practice of the age old theory that opposites really do attract.

This will be the last of the egg paintings. Not to worry. More fun little studies to come.

Egg Month! Complimentary colors within white

Oil on Illustration Board

In honor of my snow day (Philadelphia's snowiest winter in history....75 inches and more to come) today I am going to spend some time talking about white. It's clean and simple...well it's simple until you try to paint it. It does make sense after doing it a few times, like everything, it just takes practice.

It's rather easy if you don't think too much about it. White takes on the color of it's surroundings. A white egg on a purple background will have a lot of purple and a warm compliment of purple. A sunset landscape will take on the color of the sun and it's compliment. I have a few links that shows some artist's use of white. Take a gander and really look to see how they work with it. Michael Whelan Greg Manchess Andrew Wyeth

Egg Month! You Failed!

Both are acrylic on gessoed water color paper

Some days are better than others. Some paintings are stronger than others. Some days I wish I would have went to veterinary school. Some call it writers block others call it a creative stint. I call it bored and antsy. At this point I painted my fair share of eggs and wanted to try a fun color. The green was working but I got bored and wanted to peek around at the students work which was coming out better than mine.

Lesson to be learned. Don't fall in love with your paintings and never expect a masterpiece from a study. Underpainting was cool. Overpainting....not so much. Failed.

Egg Month! Warning: This is not an egg

Click Here to Purchase

Oil on Masonite

This was a quick demo on reflective surfaces and glazing. After drying I coated it with galkyd. Alot of times when painting in oils the paint dries dull. Varnishing will bring life back into the colors.

Egg Month! Light Source and Illumination

Oil on Masonite

Using a light source is detrimental to a painting. Having a specific light evident can create volume to the human eye. If you aim a light onto your subject you will see the highlight, mid-tones and shadows more clearly. If the subject is white or light against a dark background it is possible to achieve a glowing illumination. This illumination will also expose the temperature which stimulates the eye and tricks it into seeing a two dimensional object as a three dimensional object.

Some examples of this technique outside the egg are as follows.... Michael Deas's - Paramount Mark Ryden's - Ghost Girl Kinuko Craft's - Scent of Magic Donato Giancola's - Lady of Shalott

Egg Month! Underpainting and Overpainting

Acrylic Underpainting (Bottom)

Oil Overpainting (Top) on Illustration Board

Question: Why do an underpainting if I'm going to cover it with color anyway?

Underpainting is beneficial to do for several reasons:

1. All value and drawing problems can be figured out in this monochromatic stage.

2. When overpainting you concentrate on the color and temperature not the value. To match the overpainting color squint at your underpainting and chosen color and you will see the value relationship. This I learned from the esteemed Professor McGovern at Uarts.

3. Underpainting can be done in acrylic to assist in fast deadlines.

4. Underpainting can show through to assist in color and temperature.

Under-paintings can be any color. If your key color is going to be red try a green underpainting. That green can show through in the shadows to create a complimentary temperature change. If your unsure burnt umber is always a good bet. It can take on a cool or warm tone depending on the overpainting color.

February is Egg month!!

Click Here to Purchase

Acrylic and Oil on Illustration board

They're incredible. They're edible. They're really great to teach smooth tone transitions and painting techniques with.

Every spring I teach a pictorial fundamental course which introduces oil paints to sophomore illustration majors. The main focuses are composition, lighting, mood, color, value and handling a paint brush. The egg offers a perfect matt finish that absorbs and bounces light while reflecting and collecting environmental colors.

This guy was sitting on a blue paper. I under-painted it in acrylic burnt umber and overpainted it in oils using scumbling and glazing.

In these small exercises I teach different gessoing techniques as well as acrylic and oil under and over painting. So this week will be dedicated to some of the egg studies and little tidbits on working with eggs.

Someday I'll do a Faberge egg. I just know it!!