6. Getting to Know Your Pigments

Once you have gained some control of your pigments (through the exer­cises recommended in the previous chapters), you should make a con­centrated effort to learn their individ­ual characteristics, investigating the behavior of every color in your box until you know just what to expect of it; how it will look at full strength, mixed with white and black, thinned with medium (if oil) or water (if watercolor); its relative transparency or opacity; its amenability to appli­cation; and any special character­istics that may make its use more-or-less desirable for some particular purpose.

The exercises in this chapter are designed to help you gain this neces­sary familiarity with watercolor and oil pigments. (Similar exercises could be carried out for pastel, casein, ink or any other color medium you may wish to work in.) If you perform these exercises thoughtfully and neatly with the idea of saving the results for future reference, you will find they can be of great value.

Exercises with Watercolor Pigments

Although these exercises can be performed on other types of water­color paper, a half-imperial sheet of cold-pressed Whatman board is a good size (15 by 22 inches), has a good surface to work on, and is in a convenient form for storing for reference. In some cases, several exercises can be done on one half-sheet.

Exercise 19: Hue, Name, Character­istics — Draw a series of small, vertical rectangles (2 by 41/2 inches is a good size) on a half-sheet of cold-pressed board. (Allow a rec­tangle for each color in your box.) Now fill each rectangle with a different color wash, grading from almost pure color to the strongest color of which the pigment is capable. For comparison, group together the reds, yellows, blues, etc., just as you have them grouped on your palette. Write in the name of each color and, from time to time, add written notes as you learn more about the individual characteristics of the various pig­ments.

With such a chart at hand, you can see at a glance the hue and intensity of each of your colors in both light and dark values; hence its value as a reference. Try to store up definite mental impressions of the results, so as to have in mind just what every one of your pigments can be called upon to do.

Exercise 20: Overlaying Bands of Color — Lay out a large square on the upper portion of a half-imperial sheet of cold-pressed board and rule it off in bands, allowing a vertical and a horizontal one for each pig­ment. Narrow bands of separation should also be provided to make the contrasts more emphatic. Brush full-strength flat washes of each color from top to bottom. When they are dry, brush similar washes across the sheet, giving a plaid effect. (See Figure 13 for guidance.)

As you perform this exercise, you will learn that many new hues can be created by overlaying your pig­ments. You will also see that some of your pigments can be washed over to advantage while others can­not. You will note, too, the relative transparency of your pigments. You can always turn to this chart as a reminder of the characteristics of any given hue when laid over another hue. If you wish to see what pigment or pigments will give a desired hue, you can hunt on this chart until you find an approximation of it. You can then readily ascertain its component parts.

In this connection, make a "find­er" by cutting a small hole through heavy white paper or cardboard. By looking through this hole, you can single out any individual hue on the chart and study it without the dis­traction of neighboring colors. It is helpful to get into the habit of making comparisons of your colors with white because, in watercolor work, colors are generally viewed and judged against a white background.

Exercise 21: Test for Opacity — In doing the previous exercise, you will find that some pigments hide the washed-over color more than others. As a further test for opacity, draw a ruled line of waterproof black ink across the sheet and, when it is dry, extend each of your vertical washes to cover it, as in Figure 14. You will note that, even though your pigments are of the so-called transparent type, some will prove quite opaque. Ob­viously, if such pigments are washed over others in a painting, they will tend to obliterate them.

Exercise 22: Test for Water Resist­ance — Scrub washes of all of your pigments with a wet bristle brush — after the washes have thoroughly dried — to test their resistance to water (see Figure 15). This will tell you which of your pigments are best suited for foundation washes over which you can safely superpose others. (Incidentally, if you should ever desire to work with absolutely waterproof pigments, you can turn to colored inks such as those put out by Higgins. These inks can be applied with brush or pen.)

Exercise 23: Another Method of Making Overlays — In addition to overlaying bands of color as sug­gested in Exercise 20, you can also draw widely separated washes of individual colors, crossing each with short washes of all the other pig­ments in your box. You may find this method easier to handle. (See A, Plate 2.)

Exercise 24: Crossing Pairs — Some students prefer to experiment with overlays by crossing single pairs of colors. (See B, Plate 2.) Of course, many such crosses would be neces­sary to provide every possible combination.

77. Fig. 13, 14, and 15. In the top chart, each color is combined with every other color by overlaying bands of flat, full-strength washes. Below, the vertical washes were extended over a line of waterproof black ink to test the relative opacity of each pigment. The bot­tom chart shows the water resistance of each pigment. The washes were extended further, allowed to dry, and then scrubbed with a wet bristle brush.

Exercise 25: Order of Overlaying — The importance of the order of over­laying is shown in the following experiment. First, cover a small area with a wash of Gamboge Yellow. When dry, brush French Ultramarine over it, extending the blue far enough to permit a second wash of Gamboge to be laid over it when it is dry. The blue pigment will thus be laid over and under the yellow. You will find that while the blue flows over the yellow with little damage, the yellow crossing the blue streaks it. (See C, Plate 2.) This is one of the problems that can cause muddy color in your paintings so you will be wise to repeat this exercise with many pairs of pigments until you become familiar with all such quirks.

Exercise 26: Overlaying Several Col­ors — You can also superpose three or more hues, crisscrossing as many bands as you can. (See D and E, Plate 2.) However, if you perform such an exercise, you will quickly discover that neutrality or "mud" usually results from overlaying many washes of different hues. This points to the advisability of working as freshly and directly as possible when you are painting pictures. Mixture of pigments on the palette or in the saucer usually produces clearer re­sults than overlaying.

Exercise 27: Color Mixing — One method of direct color mixture is to run two washes together while they are wet to form a mixed wash on the paper. To learn the possibilities of this technique, make many "Y" washes like those shown at F, Plate 2. Merely form a puddle of any desired color with one brush and, near it, a second puddle of another color, using another brush or the first, hastily rinsed. Then run the two puddles together, either in a wash, as at F, or, better, blended with a rotated brush as at G. Thus you will show plainly a pair of colors and a resultant mixture. You can also mix groups of three and four colors, as at H and I. Such experi­ments should be saved for future ref­erence with the names of all colors noted. The white paper or cardboard finder described previously is useful in analyzing these mixed hues.

Exercise 28: Minglings — Another useful approach to direct color mix­ture is the "mingling." This consists of making a partial mixture of two or more pigments so that they produce, in a comparatively small area, a max­imum variety of hues, values and intensities. For this exercise, wet a rectangular area (about 3 by 4 inches) in the upper left-hand corner of a half-sheet of watercolor paper or board, which is laid flat. Definite boundary lines are unnecessary. Shake a few drops of any two intense pigments into this very wet area and allow them to spread. Manipulate them with the brush so that they retain their full strength in some places, while in others they blend quite freely or are greatly diluted. Part of the paper should remain white. Tipping the board slightly or blowing the pigment in the desired direction will help you in controlling the results.

Try another mingling of the same colors and scrub it when dry to pro­duce softer tones.

Repeat this exercise with many combinations of two, three or more colors. Many of the effects achieved this way will surprise you and will suggest a variety of color schemes; this will be discussed in detail in Chapter XI.

Exercise 29: Test for Fading — To learn about the resistance of your pigments to bright light, you can, of course, refer to the manufacturer's catalogue. It is interesting, however, to test them for yourself. On a sheet of watercolor paper (not board) carry a pair of broad, single brush strokes of each available pigment from side to side, one in full intensity and one diluted. When dry, cut the sheet vertically into four strips. Every color should appear on each strip in full strength and as diluted. Write the names of the colors on at least one strip and the date of the test.

Place one of these strips in sun­light, perhaps at a window, another in bright light but away from the sun, a third in a dark corner, and the last where no light can penetrate. After a year or so, bring them together for comparison. Colors which prove the least permanent can then be rejected for serious work. The beginner can rest assured, while awaiting the out­come of this test, that, so far as his student work is concerned, any of his pigments will be sufficiently light-proof, unless placed for some time in direct exposure to bright sunlight.

Exercises with Oil Pigments

These exercises may be done on any white canvas of convenient size. It need not be of high quality. Save each exercise and keep it handy for future reference.

Exercise 30: Hue and Name — Squeeze onto your canvas a bit of each color that you have, spreading it about with your palette knife or brush to cover thoroughly an area measuring a square inch or more. (It will prove convenient, for ease in comparison, if you group your areas of red, yellow, blue, green, brown, etc.) Next to each area, write in pencil the name of the color so that you will quickly learn to associate each hue with its correct name. Try to form a permanent mental image of both hue and name so that whenever you want some of this color, you will know it well.

Exercise 31: Drying Tests — Some paints dry much more rapidly than others. It is helpful to gain at least a general idea of the surface drying qualities of every one of your paints. Therefore, every few hours test with your finger each painted area used for Exercise 30. Add penciled notes to indicate which colors prove quick, medium and slow to dry.

Exercise 32: Tints — As we have already learned, a tint is a hue of color lighter than normal. In oil painting there are several ways to obtain tints on your white canvas. Try them all. (1) Dilute each paint with turpentine or other thinner. The more thinner you add, the lighter the tint will become. The color will grad­ually change from opaque to translu­cent and, eventually, will become al­most transparent, allowing the light canvas to show through more and more as the thinner is added. (2) Brush the paint so thin that the canvas shows through clearly. (3) Blend in some white paint. Try this with your palette knife as well as with your brush. (4) Add light paint of some other color. (Of course, when you do this, you will not only create a tint, you will also change the hue.)

Exercise 33: Shades — Whereas a tint is a hue of color lighter than normal, a shade is a hue of color darker than normal. You can obtain shades by adding black paint in varying degrees to your normal col­ors. (You can add darks of other hues, but of course they will modify the original hue somewhat.)

Mix each of your colors with vary­ing amounts of black to produce a series of shades. Mix some of them with darks of other hues and note the changes.

Exercise 34: Charts of Normal Col­ors, Tints and Shades — Now that you have experimented rather freely with all your colors, it will be helpful to make a chart showing all the gra­dations that are possible by mixing one color with white and black, as shown in Plate 3.

Paint a row of squares (an inch or so in size will do) horizontally across the middle of a canvas, one for each of your colors just as it comes from the tube. Above this row, paint a second row of squares in which every color is considerably lightened by the addition of white. This will give you a series of tints. Above this, add a third row in which the colors are still further diluted with white, creating even lighter tints. Above this, add a fourth row (more if you wish) containing constantly increas­ing amounts of white.

Now for some shades. Below the original row of normal colors, paint a second row, with each color some­what darkened by intermixing black; below this, a third row with each color greatly darkened. You may want to add a fourth and perhaps a fifth row of still darker shades.

You will now begin to see what a variety of colors is obtainable by even this simple mixture of white or black to each of your normal colors. Some interesting comparisons will also be evident. For instance, you will observe that normal colors vary greatly in value, some being quite light and others quite dark. For example, yellow in its normal form is very light in value — practically a tint in itself. Therefore, as you add the white to yellow to create a series of yellowish tints, these will vary only slightly from one to another. On the contrary, in the case of a paint which is normally dark — deep blue or violet, for instance — as you add the white you will discover a very noticeable difference from area to area. Therefore, whereas a light tint of yellow will look quite similar to the normal yellow paint, a light tint of deep blue or violet will look very different from the normal deep blue or violet.

Now study your areas of shades. Here the yellow will seem to change very rapidly in hue as the black is added to make it darker. The chances are that a dark shade of yellow will have an appearance which you would scarcely call yellow at all; it has a greenish tinge. In the case of the dark pigments, there will be far less differences in your shade squares.

Another thing you will notice is that some pigments which appear very similar at normal strength may seem quite different when mixed with white. Note, for instance, the distinct difference that are apparent in the tints of two or three deep blues and two or more strong reds.

Try to get all such differences in mind so that, if you wish to represent a certain tint or shade in a painting, you will know just what paint will give it to you through the addition of white or black only.

Exercise 35: Colors Thinned with Medium — You may also find it helpful to make somewhat similar charts showing what happens as each of your colors is thinned with varying amounts and kinds of medi­ums. Try small quantities of turps or oil first; next dilute the paint a bit more with a half-and-half mixture of turps and oil; then try a mixture of thirds of turps, oil and dammar or copal varnish. If you do this with all your pigments, you will learn a good deal about the relative opacity or transparency of each color. Those which have a high degree of transpar­ency — you will find that Alizarin Crimson, Viridian and Ultramarine are in this classification — can be partic­ularly useful as glazing colors.

Mixing Colors

As you experiment with your pig­ments, you will quickly discover there are many ways of mixing colors. There is no best way; all are useful at times. The important thing is to become familiar with the effects that can be obtained by each method.

Exercise 36: Blending — First, squeeze out a small amount of any color and. 2 or 3 inches away, a small amount of any second color. Then, using a stiff bristle brush or a palette knife, bring the two colors together on the palette and intermix them thoroughly until they blend to produce a third color. See Plate 4.

To extend this experiment further, squeeze out a bit of white and a bit of black, in separate dabs 2 or 3 inches apart and an inch or two below the blended mixture just created. Now mix the new color with the black and with the white. Thus, you will not only see what the two original colors will yield, through admixture, in the way of a third color, but you will discover how this third color will appear in a full gamut of values ranging from light tints to dark shades. Repeat this exercise with many pairs of paints. (You can carry this exercise even further, experi­menting with mixtures of three or four paints.)

Exercise 37: Combining — A completely different, and often much livelier, effect can be achieved if, instead of blending the colors to­gether on the palette as in the pre­vious exercise, two or more colors are picked up together on the brush or palette knife and applied directly to the canvas. See Plate 4. Try this with many pairs of hues; then try it again, adding white as a third pig­ment. Compare the results with those achieved \n the previous exer­cise.

Exercise 38: Glazing — When a transparent color is glazed (brushed thinly) over an under painting (or ground) of an opaque, usually light­er, color, the color of the under-painting merges or blends with that of the glaze, creating an optical effect quite different from the color mixtures already considered. See Pan­els 1 through 7, Plate 5. In carrying out Exercise 35, you discovered that some colors — Ultramarine, Alizarin Crimson, Viridian and Burnt Sienna, for example — are especially trans­parent. Now try glazing these and other semi-transparent pigments over opaque grounds of various hues. Be sure that the under painting is thor­oughly dry first; then, just before applying the glaze, moisten the ground very slightly with the painting medium. The glazing may be done with a painting brush, a blender or a dauber of cheesecloth lightly load­ed with paint which can be tapped or stroked on the under painting.

Exercise 39: Scumbling — This term generally refers to the daubing of an opaque color (usually lighter) over another color (usually darker), giving an uneven, broken effect. See Panels 8 and 9, Plate 5. As with glazing, it creates optical color mixtures that can be most interesting and effective. Scumbling is sometimes used to veil or tone down passages that are obtru­sive or overworked. Experiment with this technique, using your darkest colors for the grounds and light opaque pigments such as White, Yel­low Ochre and the Cadmium Yellows and Light Reds for the scumble. The under painting, which may even be isolated with a coat of varnish, should be dry to the touch. The paint used for scumbling may be brushed on and partly wiped off or it may be rubbed on with a brush, rag or finger; occasionally it is stip­pled. Investigate all these methods.

Texture

Although, as we stated in Chap­ter II, texture is not an inherent qual­ity of color, it has an undeniable relation to the way we see color and is of vital importance to everyone who wishes to use color effectively.

The painter whose work is prima­rily representational has various ways of using texture. He can employ his pigments in such a way that they indicate the textures of the objects in his painting; he can use his pig­ments and the tools and techniques at his command to create textural effects that are interesting in them­selves; or he can do both.

Plate 3. (See page 33.) Mix your normal pigments with white to produce tints, and with black to produce shades. The top row shows pure colors — Cadmium Red, Cad­mium Yellow, and French Ultramarine. In the second and third rows, white has been added; in the bottom row, black. Note that the yellow mixed with black shifts toward green.

Plate 4. (See page 34.) Oil pigments thor­oughly blended on the palette present a rather smooth, flat appearance. The same pigments picked up together on the brush or palette knife and applied directly to the canvas, combine in a completely different, livelier way. In Panels 1, 2, 3, 6, 8, and 9, two pigments are shown thoroughly blended on the left, and combined with white on the right. In Panels 4, 5, and 7, the combined colors are brushed out over the blended undertones on the left.

It is not the purpose of this book to tell how to paint particular tex­tures. However, if the reader will ex­periment with his pigments as sug­gested in the following exercises, he will find many new ways of achieving textural interest which he can easily adapt to his paintings as he finds need for them.

Exercise 40: Surface Textures — The surface on which you paint, whether it be paper, canvas or some other type of support, plays a great part in texture representation. Brush the same pigment mixture over areas of several different types of watercolor paper (see top row, Plate 6) and you will find that, even though you use the exact same color on all of them, the results will appear quite different, depending on the smooth­ness or roughness of each paper's surface.

A similar experiment can be per­formed with oil colors. Try it, using coarse canvas, fine canvas, can-vasboard, Masonite, plywood or sim­ilar surfaces as your supports. In actually painting on some of these materials, you would normally cover them first with a ground coat of White Lead or some other light color, but for this experiment try some areas without the ground coat and see how both color and texture are affected.

Exercise 41: Pigment Textures (Sed­iment Washes) — In performing many of the previous pigment exer­cises, you doubtless discovered that pigments themselves vary in textural characteristics. It is to your advan­tage to continue experimenting along this line until you have all such pecu­liarities well in mind. This is partic­ularly true for the watercolorist who must learn which pigments give clear washes and which give the type of washes known as "sediment," "set­tling," "deposing," "granulated" or "precipitated." Though these sedi­ment washes are disastrous when not wanted, they produce textural effects that are extremely useful for many purposes. (See Plate 6.)

Sediment washes can be employed alone, in mixture, or overlaid. In combination, they often develop far more sediment than when used sin­gly, especially when both pigments tend to depose. Burnt Sienna and French Ultramarine, in particular, are capable of producing astonishing granular effects (Panels 7 and 10, Plate 6.) Even smooth papers may look rough when this combination is applied. If your drawing board is kept flat, or nearly so, while such washes are run, the separation of the pigment particles is likely to be increased. Sometimes, to secure the desired effect, the board must be rocked back and forth. Experiment with such methods until you know how to control sediment washes to achieve this texture when and where you want it.

Exercise 42: Methods of Applica­tion, Including Some Special Tricks — The most usual methods of achieving textural effects are suggested, how­ever briefly, in Chapters IV and V, dealing with the basic methods of applying pigment to paper and can­vas. Much can be accomplished by such relatively simple, direct means, but some artists prefer to "play around" with their pigments and tools, looking for happy accidents which can be repeated when they want a particular effect.

The oil painter has an unlimited number of working methods open to him and each offers its own range of textural effects. He can, for instance, thin his paints with a considerable amount of medium and use them much as he would watercolor washes, letting the texture of the canvas be­come part of his painting. Or he can use his pigments just as they come from the tube, applying them thickly with palette knife rather than brush and building up an impasto that has an actual three-dimensional quality. He can apply his paint in layers, glaz­ing, scumbling, varnishing; wiping off, painting over; using knife, brush or whatever to create the textures he is after. (See Plates 4-and 5.)

Watercolor, although it is usually considered a more direct medium, less amenable to experiment, never­theless offers many opportunities for unusual textures as the examples in Plate 7 reveal. If you are working on a heavily grained surface, for instance, striking results can be obtained if the "hills" are scrubbed, erased, sandpapered or otherwise lightened as in Panel 1. A razor blade or knife can also be employed, either before or after the pigment is applied, as in Panel 2 which shows an area which was painted, then scratched, then superposed with other colors.

Such mediums as wax crayon, charcoal and india ink are sometimes used in conjunction with watercolor for unusual textures that could never be achieved with watercolor alone. Panels 5, 6, 7 and 9 show some of the many ways crayon and water­color can be combined.

A rather unique method is shown in Panel 8. Here, the crumbs resulting from ordinary erasure were sprinkled on the paper and a mixture of Burnt Sienna and French Ultramarinefloated over them. When the wash was dry, the crumbs were brushed away. This trick is very effective in representa­tions of antique stone fragments; by adding Emerald Green, marvel­ous suggestions of oxidized copper or the encrusted patina of ancient bronze can be obtained.

Try all these methods and others of your own invention. There is no better way of extending power over your medium.

Scrubbing

A word more about scrubbing. Not only are occasional washes scrubbed for the development of texture, but entire watercolor drawings are frequently developed by the "scrub" method. Usually the surfaces (smooth paper is popular) are washed over with brilliant pigments (the scrubbing being anticipated), and when thoroughly dry they are scrubbed in whole or in part with a sponge, rag, or a bristle brush. After this they are touched up by means of thin washes and a few accents here and there. Some artists repeat­edly wash down and build up, taking their drawings to the sink if neces­sary. Even soap is employed if cer­tain colors are too resistant. Others work more delicately, merely damp­ening and blending their colors with a soft brush, or picking out highlights. Beautiful effects are produced by such methods.

Unique Methods

Plate 8, which explains itself quite well, opens further fields for ex­perimentation with watercolor. The student should explore these, later applying the various tricks as occa­sion arises. The upper row of rec­tangles demonstrates to what extent such mediums as crayon, charcoal, and ink are sometimes used in conjunction with watercolor. Char­coal and soft pencil are customarily sprayed with fixative before the washes are applied.

Just now we wish to emphasize what is known as "broken" color, for in its use we discover a new means of pigment application. If we turn to nature for color inspira­tion we find comparatively few areas of flat, solid color. Practically every­where we see an astonishing variety of both hue and texture. Paintings must frequently show like variety. Often the artist takes advantage of the roughness of his paper to "break" his color with little spots of white, as demonstrated at 1, Plate 8. By combining various colors thus broken with white, pleasing effects are obtainable.

Plate 5. (See page 35.) Wonderful effects of color mixture can be created in oil by brushing thin glazes of transparent color over light opaque under painting as in Panels 1 through 7, and by scumbling light opaque color over darker under painting as in Panels 8 and 9.

Plate 6. (See page 36.) Certain pigments and papers lend themselves to interesting textural effects. In the top row, Panels 1 through 5 show different surfaces painted with the same wash mixture. Panels 6, 7, and 8 show typical sediment washes, alone and in mixtures, on rough papers; Panel 6 is a wash of Vermilion; Panel 7, Burnt Sienna and French Ultramarine; Panel 8, Raw Sienna and Cerulean Blue. In the bottom row are ex­amples of overlaid washes: Panel 9 shows Emerald Green over Rose Madder; Panel 10, French Ultramarine over Burnt Sienna; Pan­el 11, Cerulean Blue over Light Rose Madder.

Plate 7. (See page 37.) A variety of special textural effects can be achieved with sand­paper, knife, and white wax crayon. 1. A sedi­ment wash was applied to a rough paper; then part of it was sandpapered. 2. The first wash was scratched with a knife and glazed with a second wash. 3. The first wash was sandpapered and then glazed with a second wash. 4. The paper was scratched with a knife before any pigment was applied. 5. Lines of white wax crayon were drawn before the washes were laid. 6. Both knife and crayon were used under the washes. 7. Before the washes were laid, wax crayon was applied evenly so that it hit the tops of the elevations on the rough surface. 8. A sediment wash was laid over eraser crumbs. 9. A sediment wash was glazed over crayon, then sand­papered.

Panel 2, Plate 8, shows broken color applied in a unique manner, for a damp brush was dipped in (or, rather, touched to) red and blue pigments simultaneously, and then so stroked across the paper as to leave whites here and there. In Panel 3, two brushes were dipped separately and then used together, held with the ferrules touching. This trick is convenient when painting grass, waves, etc. Panel 4 pictures the employment of dabs or Crosshatch of color. For occasional problems this technique is splendid.

Panel 8 shows us an unusually interesting example of broken color done with a small sponge dipped into several hues at once. The paper was rough. In similar effects, known as "dry brush" work, a brush not too full of paint is substituted for the sponge. In Panel 6 we have a still different type, a brush, previously touched to several colors, having been rolled along with its point in contact with the paper. Architectural Tenderers sometimes represent marble in this manner. At 7 we see another ap­plication of the same method, this time with a single color. Stipple is of many kinds; Panel 5 pictures a typical example. Panel 9 offers a less common but very rapid type.

Plate 8. (See page 38.)Watercok>r com­bines well with other mediums, as shown in the top row of panels. Illustrated from left to right are combinations of watercolor with dark crayon, colored pencil, black pencil, and colored ink. Examples of various broken color techniques are shown in the panels below: 1. rough paper; 2. two hues on brush; 3. two brushes together; 4. dabs or Crosshatch; 5. stipple; 6. rotated brush with several colors; 7. rotated brush with one color; 8. striped with sponge; 9. stippled with sponge.

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