Thursday, September 15, 2011

SHOULD YOU USE BLACK, GREY, OR NEUTRAL TINT?

I'm sure, if you're a watercolorist, you've been told to mix your own blacks and darks.  Don't touch Lamp Black, Ivory Black, or Payne's Grey - and you may not have even heard of Neutral Tint.

But if you're interested in finding out more about these colors and how they can be used and mixed with other colors, you've got to pop over to Maggie Latham's ColourTalk post and then visit Lisa Le Quelenec's recent blog postings about them.  Both are excellent and give you a good idea of what the colors can do and how they can be used.

If you're a color geek, like me, you'll enjoy reading this and seeing the beautiful paintings both women have created.

7 comments:

irinapictures said...

Thank you very much for the links, Rhonda!

Anonymous said...

Hi Rhonda, You are always so kind with your good words…. Thank you. I was looking through some of your older blog posts last week and came upon your posts about your workshop with Nick Simmons. Last night I broke my rule of not buying any more art books or DVD’s (lol)…. and purchased the on-line version of Nick’s water media DVD. I stayed up till 2 am watching it…talk about serendipity…I thought to myself…wow! Now here is a way I might be able to merge my washes with the vibrancy of acrylic…. ironically I have been teaching watercolour pouring in my classes of late…. but it never dawned on me to actually pour diluted acrylic! Energised by Nick’s great teaching style (but groaning at the thought of extensive masking)…I am anxious to give this a try. I didn’t realise that some of the major watercolour exhibitions accepted works on paper with acrylic. Have you been practising any pouring since the workshop? Also wanted to ask if you have any workshop notes about using PS for compiling simplified compositions from scanned in sketches, as this is not covered in the DVD…but I know he covers it in his workshops. I’ve often thought about buying Nick's DVD, but after reading your post it was meant to be. Ironically he (Nick) actually left a comment on one of the Washes blog posts on the 100 Washes Blog last week… go figure!

Lisa Le Quelenec said...

Good morning, thank you so much for the link, I'm really glad my experiments have been of interest to you. I've a feeling they might not be over yet... now off to explore your blog. Have a great day.

Autumn Leaves said...

Hope I can find some time to head over there. I know I can use all the help I can get. Of course, I never seem to be one for following the rules of art. And it shows.

RH Carpenter said...

You're very welcome, Irina.

Maggie, you are kind. I will look for some info for you - I know I have it with my fluid acrylics. Fluid acrylics (DaVinci or Golden) are pure acrylic colors made without the filling that makes them heavy acrylics - bright, gorgeous colors and Nick uses them like watercolor so this will work for you well, I think! I'm so excited that I might have shared something with you instead of the other way around :) Nick is a real rock star in the watercolor world and is one of a kind - and also a wonderful person.

Lisa, I so enjoyed reading your post and will continue to visit to see what you're doing. Thanks so much for taking the time to stop by and comment!

Autumn, I like to know the rules but then know that I don't have to follow them if I want to stray off on my own for a while :)

Pam Johnson Brickell said...

Thanks for sharing, Rhonda!

RH Carpenter said...

You're very welcome, Pam.