March 19, 2002
Dear Artist;
Rain drums on the studio roof. We wait for spring and I'm fooling with the colors of summer. A slip, perhaps, to a borderline zone: the goofy idea that colors are people. It started with a quote from Marc Chagall: "All colors are the friends of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites."
Since the workshop with Stephen Quiller last fall I've been more consciously looking at complementaries. Experiments with simple designs that follow calculated schemes. What a playing field! Blue and orange, yellow and purple, red and green. For the first time in my life I've taken egg cartons and carefully pre-mixed opposites that test out to equal intensity. Some are unabashed high-key pastels and others are sucked down with neutralizing opposites toward magic grays and mysterious darks. When you dip into the carton you know what you're getting. Some findings:
Color simplicity has power and cleanliness.
Equal intensity laybys make fun for the eyes.
Some color families are more moody than others.
Wooden colors are enlivened by their opposites.
Adjacent colors accept one another's temperature.
Complementaries are the key to sophisticated grays.
Reflected light is an underused wonder of painting.
Rampant experimentation is the father of invention.
Local color ought to be friendly to those next door.
Color mixing is more valuable than color application.
If all else fails, pick one primary and leave her out.
What's out there is not as important as what's in here.
Bright complementaries spice otherwise dull monochromes.
Determining "mother color" is the mother of color theory.
Unruly crowds can be tamed by glazing their complementaries.
Sticking to a planned color scheme is inspiration in itself.
A color wheel on the wall is worth more than a sack of tubes.
Best regards,
Robert
PS: "There are colors which cause each other to shine brilliantly, which form a couple which complete each other like man and woman." (Vincent van Gogh)
Esoterica: The egg carton is the most universally available tray. Perhaps the chickens, laying by the dozen, are thinking of us. The stronger plastic cartons are best. The lids fit remarkably well. A strip of spongy foam glued to the inside of the lid and filled with water keeps acrylics and gouache wet for weeks. Like a lot of good things in life, they're free.
The following are selected responses to the above and
other letters. Thank you for writing rgenn@saraphina.com
+Complementary questions
(RG note) A few artists wrote to ask if I might clarify some of the
above.
Paul C. Moors of Tucson, AZ Tohono@aol.com asked, "Could you please elaborate on ‘Complementaries are the key to sophisticated grays.’"
(RG note) We all know that you can mix pretty good grays by using black and white. Sophisticated grays are grays with color nuances in them. By carefully mixing opposites on the color wheel it’s possible to achieve more valuable grays. Even when white (or black) is added to these combinations the results "sing" and interact better with their like-minded neighbors.
Ellie Snyder of Kauai esnyder@rare-dear.com asked what "mother color" was.
(RG note) Merlin Enabnit coined the term about 1930. His idea has been around for centuries; only the name was original. Paintings have more harmony when some amount of one color is mixed in with all colors in the work. For example, put a bit of red oxide in all the colors to achieve unity and overall warmness.
Dana Andersen dananda@jps.net asked "...pre-mixed opposites that test out to equal intensity." HOW DO YOU DO THAT?
(RG note) Cut swatches of paper say 2 inches square. Cover one with a nice bright
green. Pick the red (complementary) that is opposite on the color wheel and paint it on
another swatch. Lay the swatches side by side and look at them with half closed eyes until
they are seen more or less grayed down. One will appear darker than the other. Now go back
to your mixing and progressively add white to the darker one until it appears to have the
same amount of "intensity" as the other. This is the practical painter’s
way of achieving equal intensity. When the colors are "right on" they interact
with one another, boggle the eye and grab attention. Merlin Enabnit called this phenomenon
"razzle-dazzle." More sophisticated ways of achieving equal intensity can be
found by following the research of the color expert Josef Albers. See letter below.
+No easy task
My work with Josef Albers provided such a deep respect for the complexities of color and
its interaction that I hesitate to give color advice through words. So many variables. I
applaud your efforts to explain what has to be the most difficult visual task facing a
colorist. Our ability to correctly identify colors of equal value (light/dark) requires a
training that few art students or even professional artists have experienced.
Consistently, only about 40% of Albers' graduate students could correctly select color
swatches of equal value. This percentage increased with experience, but experience gained
through critique, where both student and mentor could view the colors under similar light
conditions.
Dick Nelson, Maui, trihue@hawaii.rr.com
(RG note) Richard Nelson is a modern day color guru who lives on the side of a volcano on Maui. A twice-weekly letter about him and some of the questions he raises are at: http://www.painterskeys.com/letters/robert_genn_letter_000208.htm
+Pierre Matisse, colourist
Matisse had an instinctive understanding of colour. At the end of his lifetime he was able to put it into words: "Put a colour upon a canvas – it not only colours with that colour the part of the canvas to which the colour has been applied, but it also colours the surrounding space with the complementary."
J K Rowse, UK
+Ice-cube trays
I bought myself a package of cheap plastic ice-cube trays from the dollar store for mixing
colors. I can wash them out and reuse them indefinitely. I keep one tray for each of the
primary colors and experiment by adding different mixes to each section.
Lynda Laker djllaker@rogers.com
+Egg boxes
The egg boxes are using in the Russia too. Of course, the quality of those is sometimes
such as just paper. Then, if painter want to use it for very liquid paint he can put onto
compartments of egg box one band of aluminum foil. This aluminum foil is convenient
material to have paint box in any size paper box, and even in any place with holes. One
band of foil is more light than the equal surface of palettes. Very busy artists (and
artisteses too) may use this foil to wash not food dishes and plates - just remove the
foil after eating. But the very-very-very busy artists may use not any foil and keep
unwashed food dishes and plates in the refrigerator without risk of cockroaches attack at
least to end of creative inspiration.
Yaroslaw Rozputnyak, Moscow, Russia, tapestry-olgayaroslaw@mtu-net.ru
+Spring fever
Spring, ahhhh, I can hardly wait to be out in my garden. The outside
temp is presently -25C, I knew it was cold as soon as I went to the kitchen to let the
dogs out. I didn't need to open the door, as soon as I see that the little nail holes, on
the inside door moldings, have a quarter of a inch of ice on them, I know it's cold out
side. I'm taking a watercolor course not far from here, given by Lian Zhen, and we are
only using three colors, it is truly amazing what is being produced in this class, the
intensity of color and the movement of paint. Like you said the pastels that are produced.
Mr. Zhen must be wondering what kind hinterland is this as he just finished a class in
Hawaii, before arriving in Alberta, Canada. Today we paint snow, like the Inuit people who
have 23 words for snow, I'm sure we will find it's many shades and colors within the three
primary colors we are using in this workshop.
Shirley Flinn, Alberta sflinn@telusplanet.net
+Contest entries
"Still life with green apples" Acrylic, Sherry Purvis, Kennesaw, GA dpurvis1@bellsouth.net
"Sweetpeas" W/C, Leanne Cadden, B. C. Canada, leannecadden@hotmail.com
"Buffalo" Dave Fraser, Alberta arenaria@island.net
"Damselland" Kim Rody, Stuart, Florida, kim@rody.com
"Fall landscape, Port Rowan" Linda Kemp, Jordan, Ontario h2ocolor@mergetel.com
RG note) The above are a few more of the 300 or so entries that have come in since the contest was announced three weeks ago. They are not necessarily finalists in the "Free Painting Workshop in Brittany with Robert Genn" contest. You can get more information on this contest and workshop at http://www.painterskeys.com/workshops.htm The contest is open until June 15, 2002. All finalists will receive a free copy of The Painter’s Keys book. The workshop takes place from September 20 to 30th, 2002. Cost of the workshop is US$2350. The Robert Genn information for Phil Levine Workshops Inc. is at http://www.paintingfrance.com/Robert_Genn.htm
Please note that in the event that the winner of the contest has already signed up for
the Brittany Workshop, his or her deposits will be refunded and air transportation from
anywhere in the world will be looked after as well. Artists entering the contest who wish
to send regular photos of their work may send it to R Genn, 12711 Beckett Rd., Surrey, B
C. Canada, V4A 2W9. These will be scanned and transferred to our contest archive. Thanks.
Please feel free to comment on anyone’s remarks. If you add your email address right after your name at the end of your letter, we will include it. If you wish to write incognito we will honor that too. All unused letters are carefully archived for possible future use. We generally include ten or so letters in each "clickback" so you can expect about the same amount of reading. Readers really appreciate it when you tell us approximately where you are located. We edit most letters for clarity and brevity. We are able to translate letters from most languages. Please address your letters to rgenn@saraphina.com
You may be interested to know that artists from every state in the USA, every province in Canada, and at least 97 countries worldwide have visited these pages since January 1, 2002. That includes Epic Dewfall ben@epicdewfall.ca from Ottawa, Ontario who penned the following:
"The most beautiful colors of a painting, a universe or a pun.
Where sometimes we find are two, there was only room for one."
And Stephen Quiller of Creede, Colorado, qui@amigo.net
who wrote: "I thought that Chagall was the one that said ‘Colors are the friends
of their neighbors and the lovers of their opposites.’ That’s the way it is in
my book, anyway." (RG note) You’re probably right Stephen. Doesn’t sound
like something Auden would say. People in the research department of the "Resource of
Art Quotations" where I picked it up, http://www.painterskeys.com/quotations.htm
have been alerted and are working to correct the problem.
Free Books
Three free books. Thanks so much for your enthusiastic endorsement of this letter.
Apart from a few who find The Painter’s Keys on the internet, the only way
artists hear about it is through the recommendation of friends. To make it more fun for
you we have five copies of the Painter's Guide to Color, five copies of Design
and Compositional Secrets of Professional Artists, and ten copies of The Painter's
Keys. To win one of these books just send us the names of five friends or fellow
artists who would like to get the Twice-Weekly Letter. We’ll close the lottery and
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You can send your friends' names directly to me at rgenn@saraphina.com and I’ll make sure you’re entered. Don’t forget to include your mailing address so we can mail your free copy. The last time we did something like this there were about forty subscribers who responded with five or more friends so you stand a pretty good chance of winning one of the books. If you send fifteen new subscribers we’ll put your name in the hat three times. Thanks for joining in.
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The Painter’s Guide to Color, by Stephen Quiller is a definitive guide to understanding color. 144 pages packed with valuable information by the popular color wizard. Sells for $24.95US.
Design and Composition Secrets of Professional Artists. is a 128 page, large format book published by International Artist Magazine. It’s sold on Amazon for $19.99US. The artists whose work and methodology are included are Donna Baspaly, Robert Bateman, Alessandra Bitelli, Alan Bruce, Don Farrell, Peter Folkes, Britton Francis, Robert Genn, Kiff Holland, Tom Huntley, Brian Johnson, Neil Patterson, Myfanwy Pavelic, Nancy Slaght, Mike Svob, and Ann Zielinski. It has hundreds of color illustrations and lots of text explaining each artist’s approach to the vital subject of composition.
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