Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Pastels-And-Fixative-Debating

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Pastels-And-Fixative-Debating

By Carmi Weingrod
http://tips-trick-idea-forbeginnerspainters.blogspot.com/2015/06/pastels-and-fixative-debating.htmlPastelists have been debating about fixatives since the eighteenth century. Now, after more than two hundred years of dialogue, the questions are still unresolved. Ask any group of pastelists about the topic and you’re likely to hear a volley of responses.
Some use fixative sparingly in the painting process to obtain certain color effects, some use it as a protective finish on completed paintings and others never use it at all. At least there’s agreement on one thing Pastel is a structurally fragile medium susceptible to mechanical injury and that makes paintings created with it difficult to store, frame and transport. Although a final coat of fixative appears to keep some pastel particles intact, it also obliterates the unique color and textural qualities that distinguish pastel from other painting mediums.
Unfortunately, the fixative dialogue delivers no clear cut answers, leaving the ultimate decision up to each pastel artist. Although I can’t you when to use fixative or how much to use or whether to use it at all, I can provide information to help you make the most educated decision possible about using fixatives in your own work, either in the painting process or as a protective coating for the completed work.

Tuesday, June 16, 2015

Watercolor Techniques - Dominance - Colors

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Watercolor Techniques - Dominance - Colors

Dominance
Pay extra attention to this most often over looked color peculiarity. Color dominance needs to be considered when more than one color is mixed into a wash. The same color combination may result in an almost infinite variety of colors depending on the proportions of the mix. Whichever pigment is the most dominant in the mix will impose its characteristics on the wash, not only in the hue but in all other aspects of its nature as well, such as staining or nonstaining, opaque or transparent.

If the dominant color is Manganese Blue (a sedimentary pigment) and the secondary color is Burnt Sienna (a transparent color), the mixed color will not only be a bluer hue but will also be a grainy-textured color and will lift off better than Burnt Sienna would lift by itself. This is because Manganese Blue is the dominant color and not only its hue but also its other natural characteristics impose their dominance over the other color.

Thursday, June 11, 2015

Watercolor Techniques - Staining - Colors

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Dark Staining
When a pigment tints the fiber of the paper it is called a staining color.These colors behave like a dye. The staining nature in a pigment is not relevant to other qualities. Opaque, sedimentary or transparent colors can be either staining or nonstaining. The degree of staining quality of a pigment is important to know only if you intend to lift out a color. 
A staining color will show a tint of its hue even after you have tried to wet-scrub and blot off the paint. This behavior remains even if the staining color is mixed with other nonstaining colors.

Dark Staining Colors include:
. All phthalo colors
. Burnt Sienna
. Scarlet Lake
. Sap Green
. Hooker's Green

Sunday, June 7, 2015

Watercolor Techniques - Sedimentary - Colors

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Sedimentary Colors
Sedimentary, or granulating, colors are made from physically heavy pigments, Because of their weight, sedimentary colors sink into the water like pebbles. On rough or cold-pressed paper, they are first to land in the low, Hollow spots of the paper. On the smooth surface of hot-pressed paper, they settle quickly, but water rivulets create little river-like separations. 
All this behavior translates graphically into texture. A sandpaper like grain is the nature of these pigments. When you mix them in a wet wash with other colors, they will look grainy and may separate, While transparent colors will dissolve in water like tea and stay active as long as the wash is wet. When sedimentary and non-sedimentary colors are mixed, each color is individually visible, for example, Manganese blue, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna and Phthalo Blue.

Sedimentary colors include :
. Ultramarine Blue
. Raw Sienna
. Raw Umber
. Sepia
. Cobalt Violet
. Viridian Green
. Manganese Blue