Saturday, September 5, 2015

BLACK IS BLACK, OR IS IT?

Tuesday in class I had the students make up 2-3 different blacks, using their own pigments.  With a little help and discussion, we all came up with some mixes to use to paint a black bird.






This is my version.  A black swan.


















And here are my mixes prior to painting. 

I decided to use the Sepia + Indanthrone Blue mix due to the warmth of the Sepia by itself and the warm black when mixed.




What do you mix to make black?


8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Normally I use a black pigment, like natural charcoal black (from Rublev), but if I do mix then I always gravitate toward an earthy orange red with a blue. Actually, prussian blue and venetian red work really well together. :)

Maggie Latham said...

These are nice darks, Rhonda.

E.M. Corsa said...

So funny. I just painted a black swan only mine has a hat of course. I layer a lot for my blacks, sometimes beginning with a red and finishing with a mixture of ultramarine and burnt umber. I don;t own a tube of black, too flat looking.

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks for stopping by and for taking the time to comment, yellowoxide :) In watercolor, we are taught it's a no-no to use black out of the tube (although every student set includes black) so learning to mix a black from 2 or more pigments is a good way to learn our colors and how they will mix. I use, mostly, Daniel Smith pigments and some Holbein.

Thanks, Maggie. Easy to do and I hope it taught my students a little bit about mixing color = how much is needed when one color is overpowering, etc.

RH Carpenter said...

Hi, Elizabeth! Your post came in while I was sending my reply. I do own two blacks but only because I wanted to do some black paintings like ink paintings...I used them once but they are usually put away and I don't use them in my regular work, always mixing my blacks because it's just more fun and you get more variety that way. I have two blacks in my acrylic paints and those I do use straight out of the tube (or jar, as the case may be).

Jennifer Rose said...

I use to use a red/green/blue mix for blacks when using coloured pencils, but now I just use straight up black, I'm getting lazy :p

http://carolking.wordpress.com said...

Cool black swan. I like the white touches of feathers on the neck.

I usually use a brown and a blue to make a black. Often a burnt sienna an ultramarine or pthalo.

RH Carpenter said...

Thanks, Jennifer Rose (good to hear you are healing up slowly but surely). I have never used colored pencils so know there is a lot of colors used in any color to get the depth.

Carol, thanks :)