HOW TO PAINT BY ARTHUR ZAIDENBERO A WORLD-FAMOUS ART TEACHER'S SIMPLIFIED, STEP-BY-STEP MANUAL FOR BEGINNING PAINTERS
m
I
!
!
WANT TO PAINT! WHY YOU BOUGHT THIS BOOK
OF COURSE YOU THAT'S
Let Arthur Zaidenberg take you by the hand — as he has thousands of beginning painters — and show you the short
and positive inspirations that
cuts
way you want
will
make you
paint the
to paint!
There's no mystery, says Arthur Zaidenberg, about painting.
Anyone can you
paint. Just apply the simple,
no-nonsense rules
find in this book.
And
worth ten thousand words, here are show you each step: from painting a nude in oils to an exotic landscape in water color — plus the glorious, unknown figures and scenes that are unique to your own imagination if
one picture
is
scores of pictures that
IT'S
EASY!
IT'S
FUN!
IT'S
STIMULATING!
ARTHUR ZAIDENBERG
THE CELEBRATED ARTIST WHO HAS TAUGHT MORE PEOPLE HOW TO PAINT THAN ANY LIVING TEACHER. HE IS EXHIBITED NATIONALLY, HAS WRITTEN OVER A DOZEN BOOKS ON ART AND HAS FORTY-SIX MURALS ON DISPLAY IN PUBLIC PLACES AROUND THE COUNTRY. IS
HOW TO PAINT by Arthur Zaidenberg ^^^^^ «Oo^
HOW
A Bantam Book
TO PAINT /
Published July 1965
Library of Congress Catalog Card
Number: 65-20345
All rights reserved.
Copyright
©
1965 by Bantam Books, Inc.
Published simultaneously in the United States and Canada.
Bantam Books
Bantam Books, Inc., a subsidiary Its trade-mark, consisting of the words the portrayal of a bantam, is registered in the United States Patent Office and in other countries. Marca Registrada. Bantam Books, Inc., 271 Madison Avenue, New York, N. Y. 10016.
of Grosset
&
are published by
Dunlap, Inc.
"Bantam Books" and
PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
CONTENTS Foreword
6
Choosing a "Style"
8
YOUR STUDIO
13
Your Studio • Light Your Cups Brushes and Knives •
Easel
•
Your
Palette
Palette
•
•
OILS
23
• Color • Choosing Colors for Your Oil-Paint Glazes • The Color Wheel • Canvas • Drawing Drawing on the Canvas • What to Paint? • Values Brush Strokes
Oil Painting Palette •
•
•
HEADS, LIMBS Heads
•
AND FEATURES
43
Painting Features
FIGURES
65
Painting the
Nude
•
A Series of Figure Studies
•
Clothing
STILL LIFE Still
Life
•
91 Light
LANDSCAPES
•
Composition
101
Landscape Painting • Let's Paint a Landscape Rollers • Abstract and Non-Objective
WATER COLORS •
Paint
133
The Wet Method Combined Wet and Dry Painting
Water Colors
•
•
Dry-Paper Painting
Drawing for WaterColor Painting Water-Color Pencils and Crayons • Casein •
•
•
FOREWORD The evidence of our art heritage proves that the creative impulse has been part of man since prehistoric days. To express in the universal language of painting things unsayable in words is obviously a primal urge. To be able to say things that are unique and distinctive and yet intelligible to others gives indescribable satisfaction, only to be understood by those who are painters themselves. The pleasurable
physical process of painting
hard to describe. But
it
is
is
common knowledge
equally
that tired,
men like Churchill and Eisenhower have found refuge and renewed energy in this activity. There are many other examples of busy men and women who have found time to devote to this exacting pleasure.
driven
It would almost seem that painting is a part of living. That it is related to the basic emotional functions is evidenced by the excitement in the doing and the response evoked by the art produced.
Why flat
does
this
curious activity of applying pigment to a
surface, using a stick with hairs at the end,
entice ticles
so
many amateurs and
professionals?
seem
Recent
to ar-
on the subject indicate that there are some eight
million adult painters in the United States. In France,
it
is
estimated that one out of every ten people is an amateur painter. If you include children among the paint addicts, many more millions are added.
Obviously there to
overcome
The expense
the is
is
many
a
compulsion
suflficiently
nuisances involved
certainly not negligible.
in
powerful
the process.
The paraphernalia
complex and cumbersome. The monetary rewards for the finished product are so small and uncertain as to make is
the
choice of a professional career
ticable to the point of naivete.
in
painting
imprac-
joy of painting is not unmixed with pain, but here but inexplicable truth. None of these negative considerations has prevented the steady flow to art schools
The
is
the
all
of eager students bent on a career in art, and the everincreasing number of delighted amateurs giving up their entire spare time to painting.
good life and is its own reward, not renounce the belief that the artist rates tangible rewards in the form of legal tender for groceries. If measured by the pleasure he gives to others, his reward in this respect should be considerable. A second-
The
though
creative life I
is
a
for one will
ary reward gratifying enough to be earnestly sought
when
is
the
good work is created. But simply in terms of the happiness to be found in the act of creating, whatever the quality of the work, the rewards praise of the perceptive
are immeasurable.
a
CHOOSING A "STYLE' This book will not take a stand in favor of any "school" 1 cannot deny that my own preferences are strong. So are those of every painter otherwise he would not paint. We are all impelled to paint the way we see things, and each of us sees things with a highly personal eye. If we ignore our individuality in our work it lacks an essence which makes it creative. Influence can be healthy if it adds knowledge and understanding to the innate creative impulse. But if the influence is so strong as to become emulation rather than a constructive force added to your own vision, then it is a bad influence. There are many schools of painting. Each has some validity or it would never have found adherents. The fact that a number of artists have allied themselves with this or that school of painting indicates that it has qualities worthy of your interest. That interest should not take the form of thoughtless ridicule no matter how "different" and extreme the school appears at first glance. Nor should your acceptance of any special art trend be slavish and uncritical just because the trend is striking and facile. In the early stages of the student's development he is easily awed by the technical skill exhibited by professional artists. Skill is a desirable ingredient for you to acquire, but far more important is a distinctive viewpoint your own. Skills have a way of growing with practice. Dexterity inevitably follows familiarity with the use of the materials of the artist's craft, but the nurturing of a purely personal of painting.
—
—
expression
is
not helped by emulation of someone
else's
style.
Look at pictures, love them, learn from them, but don't copy either their style or technique. Above all do not acquire second-hand emotions. Your own are rich enough as a source of expression. Search them out honestly, express them intensely, add your skill and what you have learned from the best of sources outside yourself and you will paint fine pictures.
In view of the fact that it is always hard to get two people to agree completely about anything, it would certainly be a presumption on my part to state categorically what is "good" and "bad" in art and to expect unquestion8
must suffice. During the Victorian Era there were powerful academies with restricted memberships which laid down rules for students in the schools they represented. These rules were arbitrary. Art was a definable entity. Its excellence was measurable in terms of the proficiency with which academic rules were followed. "Nature" was the ideal of beauty and the function of the artist was to simulate it. The only leeway allowed was a choice between concentrating on the "real" or on the poetic, the earthy or the ethereal. But at all times, whatever the choice, the "natman and his visible earth had to be deural" materials picted even if the painting were of heaven. The fact that there are inner visions was ignored by these academies as being unworthy of the painter. -His dreams had to be reing acceptance. Generalities
—
—
wide-awake. That good and even great pictures were painted under
stricted to the substance of the
these arbitrary restrictions true that flights
many
quite true.
is
It is
also probably
great visions were stifled, and magnificent
of fancy suppressed.
Modern painting has broken this tradition and each artist is now free to search for his own means of expression. From my point of view this is how it should be. But, by the
same token, the abandonment of
rules has led to the loss of positive
of what
restrictive
measures of judgment While this leaves the
is "good" and "bad" art. suspended in mid-air, which I think not undesirable, it also leaves art instruction perhaps equally suspended. Gone are the days when the art professor could dominate his students by the weight of his academic honors and Jong art experience to the point where they all wanted to do what he did, and consequently did as he said. The present-day art teacher has had to acquire a humility which is good for him as well as for his students. He can no longer pontificate on one method of creative expression and leave the room, confident that his words will have effective results in the form of acceptable paintings by docile students. Now every suggestion is open to chal-
critic
lenge and debate, and for that very reason
is
so
It
is
much
the better.
The process change of
of teaching
ideas.
is
The teacher
ru:)t
unilateral.
an ex-
brings his mature taste and
long experience to the searching student. Acceptance of \ 9
n some
things, rejection of others, questioning of
sirable. is
During
this process
beneficial to both student
some or benefit,
the
if
de-
shall
present
methods
The student may
reject
the process he will inevitably only in the strengthening of his convictions. On
all
other
I
their application.
of these, but
is
and teacher.
In the course of these pages
and examples of
all
an alchemy takes place which
hand, should
and the work shown to his profit
—but
in
he
find
to his taste,
only
if
the
methods suggested
he
may emulate them
he retains a searching attitude.
For I am the first to admit that there are other methods and visions of equal or greater validity. Try them in addition to these. Most important of all, find some of your own. Study the approaches shown and notice how each has a different impact due to differences in method and medium. In making these comparative studies, it is not suggested that you emulate the techniques; rather try to acquire an understanding of the technical elements
in
each variant,
which make for a different impact. Experiment constantly with different paint media. know no artist who has not tried virtually every painting material before choosing the one he considered best adapted to his individual requirements. Having chosen the media whether it be oil, water color, tempera or any of the many new additions to the painter's 1
—
—
paraphernalia the artist then experiments endlessly with means of applying that chosen media in such a way
the
tell his special paint story most effectively. There are many pitfalls involved in this experimentation. The artist must not be so intrigued by superficial
as to
surface brilliance as to scures the far
make
more important
it
the small virtue that ob-
aspects of his creative effort.
Nor must he be
so frugal in the use of the beautiful matewith which he works that he neglects the exquisite possibilities inherent in the pigments in favor of telling the rials
story.
There was a time when the separation of the painting media was academically dictated and an artist was in-
known as an "oil painter" or a "water-colorist" or a "black and white" artist. His work was accordingly assigned to special compartments in galleries, each to his own, and almost mutually antagonistic. Modern painting, along with its many other freeing evitably
10
broke these arbitrary barriers.
aspects,
odically
show
portant
point
Now
artists
peri-
or several of the different media, each medium chosen with an eye to its unique possibilities. In the galleries and museums the artist is no longer relegated to restricted areas. Painting style has become the imin all
of
reference
and
classification
—not
the
medium and technique employed. It can only be suggested that procedure on techniques might be as follows. Should your picture requirements call for translucency and lightness of touch, the choice of your medium should be the one most capable of achieving this end. Washes or diluted pigment flowed on thinly and spontaneously would probably be more effective than opaque thicknesses
of paint.
Water colors would be the obvious choice for such efI would like to point out that translucent brilliance can also be achieved with glazes of oil paint. The decision to use one or the other must depend on personal preference and taste. Monumental and dramatic strength might need the use of heavy oil paints, opaque gouaches or tempera colors, but
forts but
the desired effect can also be achieved by using colored
The result depends on medium the technique
inks.
the
—
the
method of application of
of telling the story. This in-
cludes such wide elements as composition, relation of forms, dynamics of brush stroke, choice of color, and so on. If, therefore, I do not launch into a set of rules for the use of each media of painting, if you do not find here an exact formula for the quantity of water to add to a given quantity of pigment to arrive at a definite end, I can only
answer that
my
instruction lies in just such an omission.
The hunt-and-peck system, while not a desirable approach if you wish to be a speed typist, is an ideal study system if you wish to be a painter. Discover by exploration that
medium Make
is your servant and not your you by overcoming its resistance a relatively easy task if approached without fear and with conviction in what you wish to say.
each
master.
—
of painting
it
work
for
11
12
YOUR STUDIO a
Whether you are
a professional or an
proper work area
is
A
room
small
A
possible.
amateur painter,
a very important consideration.
is adequate but it should be as light as north light is best because it is even and clear
throughout the day. It
is
best not to
furniture, painter,
it
draperies, is
a
work
in
a
room with easily damaged Even if you are a neat
or carpets.
handicap
to
worry about possible spatters
of paint on valuable things. Moreover, a
room
especially
devoted to painting does not require you to put away all the paraphernalia of painting each time you quit for the day. The tiresome process of reassembling your many paint tools might at times make you decide not to paint when you actually feel like doing so. The tools of the painter are many and bulky. You will need room to store canvases and paintbox, bottles and brushes. You require space for an easel, a painting stool, and a table for your palette and brushes. You may need a model stand or at least a table for your still life set-up. If
a
room
suitable for a studio
set off a portion of a
which no other
living
room
is
not available, try to
as a painting section,
affairs
may
one
in
intrude.
LIGHT North
light is steady and even. If possible, place your near a north-light window and pose your still life, or whatever you wish to paint, near that source of light. Put all your painting materials on a table close at hand. Cover the floor around and under your easel with
easel
newspaper or an old rug
14
to save the floor.
N.
-v^
\ ^.,
15
71
YOUR EASEL There is on the market a wide range of easels varying in and cost. Huge studio easels of heavy wood, sturdy enough for very large canvases, are available. These run to several hundred dollars. Simple tripods of wood with peg holes and pegs for raising or lowering your canvas cost only a few dollars. Between is a whole collection of variously designed wood and metal easels, folding or nonsize
folding.
Choose one to you plan to use.
size of canvas an easel that allows the canvas tD sit vertically, rather than the lean-back type. Above all the easel should be firm. suit
1
your pocket and the
like
16
I
YOUR PALETTE The
palette
is
the beginning area of the creative act of
painting.
On from
it
are ranged the pure pigments as they are squeezed
commercially prepared oil-paint tubes. Your choice of these tubes will depend on your own tastes and special requirements as you develop your technique and widen your scope as a painter.^ In pages to follow, a basic range of tube colors will be suggested. the
Here we
will discuss the use of the palette
as a
work
area.
There are available many varieties of palette. The romantic, classical, curved palette, with beauty comparable to the contours of a violin, is both expensive and cumbersome. It is also hard to clean and, for purposes of experimental painting and study, a decorative nuisance. A glass or porcelain slab is inexpensive and easily cleaned. Paper palette pads are sold in art supply shops; they are made of waxed paper and are quite serviceable. When an oil sketch has been completed, the page may be torn from the palette pad and disposed of. A clean surface awaits your next effort. Colors are mixed directly on the palette by picking up a dab from two or more of the pigments ranged along the edge of the palette and mixing them together, on the large area in tjie center of the palette, with a palette knife or the brush which will carry the resultant blend to the canvas. When the pigments require more fluidity than they have when they are squeezed from the tube, the artist dips his 17
'^K'
CANVAS PANEL
WOOD PALETTE
PALETTE!
CUPS BRISTC
BRUSHES
CHARCOAL
GLASS PALETTE
CURVED PALETTE
SABLE BRUSHES
'%*:
PAPER PALETTE PAD
PALETTE KNIVES
brush
one or both of the twin cups clipped to the hnseed oil or turpentine or a mix-
in
palette edge, containing
of both
ture
be discussed in later pages in will be applied to the mixture and transferred to the canvas. Some painters like to hold the palette in the left hand during painting. find it more relaxing to rest my palette
more
(these
will
This liquid
detail).
I
on the work Oil paint
table. is
sold in prepared tubes.
It
is
about the same
thickness as toothpaste.
This paste use
it
as
it
turpentine to If
is
ready for spreading on canvas.
comes from
make
the tube, or
you may
more easily. enough, it becomes very much it
You may
dilute
it
with
flow
you dilute it and you may float you don't dilute the
on
like
water
transparent ''washes." If paint, you may put it on in thick layers with a brush or a palette knife without any liquid
color,
it
in
at all.
You may combine
two methods:
thin washes of and thick smears of pasty, creamy paint as it comes from the tube. When you have set up your canvas and set out your painting materials, you are ready to prepare your palette
the
diluted (thinned with turpentine)
paint,
for painting.
Squeeze out small dabs of paint in an orderly pattern around the outer edge of the palette.
PALETTE CUPS Twin cups should be
clipped to the edge of your palette. oils, turpentine, var-
These are for the liquid "media''
—
or the many other liquid preparations tured for special uses with the pigments. Each liquid has special properties. nishes
20
manufac-
j
j
i
«
For our purposes now, because we are dealing with first, I suggest that only two liquids be used. They are linseed oil in one cup and rectified turpentine in basic problems,
the other.
The turpentine
is
used essentially as a thinner, to give
the thick pigment a freer flowing quality.
The amount
of
pigment should never be to the point that it causes the paint to "run" in wet streams on your canvas. Oil medium in the other cup helps give fluidity and also enriches the body of the pigments, giving them that glowdilution of the
ing freshness so typical of oil paintings.
BRUSHES AND KNIVES The actual application of the oil colors to canvas is doneor both. with either brushes or palette knives Bristle brushes, with square, rounded or pointed ends, are most commonly- used. The hairs are strong and stringy, and the thick pigment may be pressed onto the canvas with strong strokes. Sable brushes are also used m oil painting. They are made of fine hairs and are very soft. This is for smooth,
—
soft painting.
You
will soon find your preferences for either bristle or Try them both. You will need about six brushes of various sizes. If cared for by cleaning after each use, they will last a long
sable.
Good brushes are expensive but a worth-while investment. Cheap brushes have a tendency to lose their hair or spread apart. In the end they cost more. In buying time.
brushes, test their spring and see that the metal grip is on the wooden handle and holds the hairs tightly. Palette knives are springy, metal paint applicators. They
firm
wooden handles. The end of the usually of very springy tempered steel.
are steel blades set in
knife
is
21
OILS^
OIL PAINTING The impression
prevails that oil painting
is
so difficult
had better learn the use of water color and other paint media before oils should be attempted. Actually, oil paints are far more simple to handle than water color. The process of using them is less dependent that the student
on spontaneity. Oils allow for slow, careful application if desired, and the slow-drying properties of oils permit changes and blending at leisure. Re-examination for possible elimination of passages which are not entirely satisfactory
always possible.
is
pigment thinness.
ness as will give physical
flow
it
In
addition,
the
may be used opaquely or diluted You can almost model the paint
on
body
to
rich
heavy
to water-color
in such thickyour painting, or you can
in thin glazes.
Oil paint
is
permanent,
is
proven so by the
still
brilliant,
hundreds-of-years-old paintings which we have with us today. It is by far the most popular medium for creative paintings.
do not wish to suggest that it is easy to paint well in 1 do think that anyone can learn to use them with ease and fluency. And no one has exhausted the range of this fine medium. If you examine all the paintings in oil in your local museum or gallery you will see how differI
oils.
The work and color mixtures vary with each
ently each painter applies the paint.
and the
results
are quite different.
thickness, brush-
individual
Brush-stroking
artist, is
in-
evitably as individual as penscript.
Before commercial color manufacturers began to put paints into tubes for sale to the public, each artist
oil
had to
own powder color and mix it with oil and binders was of a consistency suitable for application to canvas. It was a cumbersome process, tedious and diffi-
grind his until
it
cult.
Nowadays we have
excellent colors available in tubes very wide range. The fluidity and consistency of the paste is nicely uniform, ready for use. The different hues are labeled accurately, and tolor charts are available to in a
you in making your choice. There are few hindrances for the would-be painter
aid
either in the availability or in the character of oil paints.
24
COLOR Everyone has his own taste in color. You may love red and hate yellow. If 1 were to tell you exactly what colors to use, these might be the ones you like least, and your own special tastes should come first. You are a painter, and a painter must be himself at all times. What I can do is show you how to get the colors you want.
There are three "primary colors." These are the basic from which most other colors can be made. By mixing any two of these primary colors, a third color is made. Here is a list of the primary colors and the mixtures derived from them. The three primary colors are: Red, Yellow, Blue. If you mix equal quantities of red and blue you will colors
get violet.
you mix yellow and blue equally, you will get green. you mix red and yellow equally, you will get orange. When you mix any of the two primary colors unequally, that is, more of one color than the other, the tint will lean more toward the color of larger quantity. For instance: If you mix two parts of red with one part of blue, you will have reddish-purple. Two parts of blue with one of yellow will make blueIf
If
green.
Two
parts of yellow with one part of red will
make
yel-
low-orange. Practice will teach you
exactly the shades
how
to
mix colors
until
you
get
you want.
To mix cleanly, take your palette knife and, with its springy end, pick up a dab of color from the line of colors on your
palette.
down again closer to Wipe your knife with your paint Put
it
color dab and mix
the center of the palette. rag.
Now
pick up another
color with your knife on your palette. As you mash the two pasty colors together, they will cease to be what they were and become a new color, ready for
it
with the
first
your brush. 25
Color is something so personal that no one can exactly what color to use where.
tell
you.
For instance, a leaf is green, but in certain lights, or next;, to certain other colors, that green seems brighter or moresubdued, leaf
is
or serious.
When you
the real
in
and hovy you choose
to portray
paint the leaf, don't try to
you would match pieces of material. Match your mood and even change
way
of the
-
how you feel at the moment, happy Your moods will be reflected in the way you
see the color as
The green
brilliant or dull, soft or sharp.
also affected by
leaf to
suit
it.
match the color
the appearance of
how you feel. In this.^ game and not a problem |
yourself and
painting becomes an exciting
chemistry.
^
Use your colors as though you were inventing. What you see, plus how you feel, plus what you think, equal what you put on the canvas. This is how you will communicate those three very personal reactions to the person who looks at your painting.
CHOOSING COLORS FOR YOUR OIL-PAINT PALETTE To
begin with, a limited number of colors is advisable. palette must, of course, include the primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. It must also include white. These
Your
four are indispensable. A number of colors are called "earth colors." Yellow ochre, raw umber, burnt umber, raw sienna and burnt sienna are all derived from clay. A yellow ochre and a burnt umber will add two good earthy colors to your palette. 1 consider that black should
be one of your palette
colors.
This
now makes
seven
colors
for
your
''beginning"
palette.
There are many varieties of reds, blues, and yellows. Each of these primary colors is available in a wide range and under many different names.
26
^
range from
very wide red for your palette is called 'Vermilion." A good dark red is called "alizarin crimson." 1 would include both of these. Among the blues, a good light blue is "cerulean blue."
Red,
choice.
A
in its
One good
light to dark, allows a
light
good dark blue is "cobalt blue." Get these, too. good light yellow is "cadmium yellow pale."
A
A
good
dark or strong yellow is "cadmium yellow deep." These should also be included. We now have a ten-color palette: Vermilion 1. 2. Alizarin crimson 3. Cerulean blue 4. Cobalt blue 5.
6.
7. 8.
Cadmium Cadmium
yellow, pale yellow, deep
Yellow ochre Burnt umber
Ivory black Flake white During your progress as a painter you will delete or add many colors. But to begin with, try the above, limited 9.
10.
palette. It will work quite efficiently for most painting requirements. All of the colors listed are available in art supply shops under various trademarks. Some are very expensive; some are comparatively cheap. You can buy quite good, permanent colors in a middle-range price, and this is what I
recommend. The application of paint
to canvas is free of any rules. and you may dab or swish or spatter or jab your paint on with as much freedom as you wish. You will evolve your own brushing style as inevitably as you did your penscript. The color mixtures made with the primary colors can be varied in intensity by adding white pigment. The addi-
A
brush
is
a pliant thing,
tion of white naturally
makes
the color lighter.
This is called lightening the "value" of the colors. Colors are also sometimes called "warm" or "cool." The expression is descriptive of the effect of these colors on the senses. Obviously, redHs "warm" as compared to blue or green. Between the extremes of warm and cool are the rela-
27
such as red-violet or yellow-green. of the many important contributions that "modern" painting has made to the creation and enjoyment of works of art is the liberation of the painter from the obligation to "copy" the color of an object in nature. tively neutral colors
One
For certain purposes which have nothing to do with the creation of works of art, it is necessary to try to achieve the "realistic" color of an object. When 1 use the word "realistic" I mean the accepted generalization of what the color of an object is. "Flesh color," for instance, has an accepted connotation that has no basis in fact, but which a commonplace of our language. For commercial delineation of a face, an all-over "flesh color" is required for easy identification. An apple is red, a leaf is green, and
is
so on.
For the painter who is not restricted by limitations inherent in a "job," the free use of his inventiveness is limited only by the consideration of the needs of his picture. Where an arbitrary change of the local "real" color of an object is necessary to achieve a unity or harmony in relation to a color adjacent to it, the artist is at liberty to do so. More than that, it is his artistic duty to do so. This does not by any means imply that complete anarchy or whim should be the rule in choosing departures from the "real." At all times the chief consideration should be the needs of the picture. A color used in a painting must not be considered as is affected by the colors around it and it them. Where aesthetic considerations call for the use of a color that is not "local" and "real," an artist has the duty to supply it.
living alone. It affects
GLAZES Glazes are fluid washes of diluted color floated in a transparent film over the surface of another color. The purpose of a glaze is to add its transparent color to the base color to create a veiled change, which is a combination of the two colors. On occasion two or more such glazes may be applied. They build up a sheen of superimposed colors of a lumi-
28
nous, translucent character. At times a glaze is flowed
upon
a finished painting with
adding brilliance to the painting. On the other hand, a dark glaze may be used to subdue the brilthe
effect
of
liance of the finished picture
if
this
is
desirable.
This glaze on the finished painting should be applied only when it is completely dry or it will drag pigment underneath and muddy the picture.
THE COLOR WHEEL All the colors indicated
on
this
wheel were made from
the three primary colors: red, yellow and blue. The three secondary colors are green, violet and orange.
When the three primary colors are mixed with the secondary colors we produce the tertiary colors or hues: yellow-green, blue-violet, red-violet, red-orange and yellow-orange. Complementary colors are those directly opposite each other on this color wheel.
--
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YELLOW ORANGE
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RED
ORANGE
RED VIOLET 30
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YELLOW GREEN
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I
CANVAS A
cheap cotton canvas, so thin and so badly prepared will bulge or sag at a touch, shrink or stretch under slight weather change or not receive your paint well or that
it
hold
permanently, is obviously an unfortunate choice. On the other hand, to use a very expensive linen suitable for masterpieces when you are doing incidental sketches of no real consequence is an extravagance. Too fine and expensive a canvas may also inhibit you. For practice purposes you may paint on almost any surface that is receptive to oil paint. There is a wide range of inexpensive paint-receiving materials, from wrapping paper to wood. The latter, if properly prepared is as permanent a surface as any canvas, but much cheaper and more readily available. Your wrapping-paper sketches will last sufficiently long (even many years) for most sketching needs. Next in price to paper and wood are the very adequate simulated sketch pads which have^recently appeared on the art supply market. These are of specially prepared paper with a texture quite similar to canvas, of an absorbent, paintreceptive nature that makes them a good painting surface. Although these simulated canvas papers have not existed long enough to judge their permanence as a picture base, they promise a fair number of years' life without impairment. Then there are the very good canvas-covered panels. These are adequate for most serious work and give as it
permanent
a surface as any.
You may stretchers,
prefer a stretched canvas,
becaues
your brush strokes. but in my opinion it
it
mounted on wooden
and "bounce" to have such a preference,
gives a resiliency
Many
artists
is only a habit, not a requirement. So, while you are studying, take care not to develop habits that are too expensive. For small paintings, canvas of a fine-grained fabric is usually preferred. Very large pictures with heavy pigment tend to stretch and sag with the weight of the paint if the
canvas
is
too fine-grained.
With sagging, the paint
will
crack.
Very rough-grained canvases make cult,
32
fine detail
work
but they are popular for broad, free brushwork.
diffi-
% |
'^ ^
; -^^
^
Art material shops quality cotton canvas are
made
in
many
sell canvas panels made ot good mounted on heavy cardboard. They
sizes.
These are handy and inexpensive and quite adequate for most sketching purposes. They are also manufactured with linen canvas, at a higher price. For quick sketching purposes pads of canvas-like textured paper are available. Their use is not recommended for serious painting with a view toward permanence. However, students use them and professionals find them convenient for outdoor sketching and traveling. If
you wish to prepare your own canvas, buy unbleached Be sure that it is raw canvas with no sizing added
linen.
by the manufacturer. You must mix the "size" or base for painting. Size is made of glue mixed with water. Buy rabbit-skin glue in sheets from hardware or paint stores. (About 2 ounces of glue to one quart of water.) Soak it in water over night. It will melt easily over heat. With a wide flat brush, paint the size evenly over the entire canvas to the outer edges. Allow the size to dry thoroughly.
Now Mix
comes the priming
process.
as above with powdered zinc white and an equal part of powdered chalk. Enough zinc white and chalk must be used to give a thick but flowing, creamy consistency after stirring. Paint this mixture of prime on the canvas as evenly as possible. You may vary the thickness of the prime as you see fit. If it is too heavy for brushing it may be applied with a palette knife. When the first prime ground is quite dry, apply a second coat of prime. Again, at this point, I should like to emphasize the fact that one can get too fancy about tools and work surfaces and spend so much time on preparations for painting that painting itself becomes a chore. The commercial products available are for most purposes of quite adequate quality for the most ambitious effort. Only when the prohibitive cost of ready-made materials or special difficulty in obtaining them prevails should you bother with the problems
a solution of glue
and water
33
of
home canvas Manuals
for
preparation or color grinding. tend to become too concerned
Good
artists have always been inventive achieving the effects they desire. For instance, Picasso, undeniably a great technician, has been known to use match ends, broken table knives or bent nails to attain brilliant passages in his painting. He paints at times on stone, paper and wood. An artist never has enough time. The quotation, "Art is long. Life is short," is too painfully true. As your ability develops and your absorption in the creative process grows, you will increasingly begrudge any time taken
about materials.
and ingenious
away from
'
painters
j
in
'
!
]
'
:
actual painting.
DRAWING It is a very reassuring thing to know that there is no one way to draw. Beginners have too often been driven to despair by attempts to make them conform to rigid methods, which fail to take into account the beginner's natural drawing script, his own particular handwriting. The wit and charm that might have appeared spontaneously in the student's drawings have often been smothered under an
enforced, prescribed curriculum.
Every child draws well. A child is uninhibited by rewhich various drawing disciplines impose. He "plays" while he draws and this is an indispensable quality in good drawing. It should be preserved. In drawing for painting it is particularly important to have an unlabored and fresh approach. There is no need for detailed drawing on a canvas. A "finished" study not only would be lost when paint is applied it would also act as a restraint to free painting. The tendency would be to tint a drawing instead of painting it. straints
—
In the course of our painting study throughout this book, there will appear many sketches related to the painting in progress. Study their characters, not with the purpose of copying the style but rather with a view toward understanding the constructive step that drawing represents in building a painting.
A 34
drawing prepared for
a
painting
is
called
upon
to
]
serve certain specific functions, so that the concentration is on those functions rather than on the immediate aes-
problem of the drawing. This does not mean that your drawing for painting should not be carefully considered. It must direct the trend of your painting and for that reason it must be a forceful guide. But its guiding qualities must not be diverted b thetic
irrelevancies.
The drawing process is to be carried into the painting. There is no sharp stopping point. On the contrary, the drawing is woven into the pattern of your painting.
DRAWING ON THE CANVAS Drawing for
its
own
for painting
quite different from drawing drawing on canvas will be cov-
is
sake, for your
ered by the thick paint when it is finished. You must draw simple guide outlines of the objects to show their positions. This will serve to keep your whole picture composition in its proper place when .you begin to paint the details
of each object.
You may make your drawing in pencil or charcoal on the canvas, or you may draw directly with paint. If you make your simple drawing in pencil, keep the lines
very light so that the lead does not smudge your
colors.
Many
artists
use long, thin charcoal sticks to put their
drawing on canvas. This is better than pencil because it can be wiped out easily time after time until you find exactly the position and proportions you need for your painting.
When you have finished your charcoal drawing it must be sprayed with clear shellac called "fixative." This ''fixes" the charcoal to the canvas so that it will not smudge when you brush over it. If you wish to draw with your brush and paint instead of making a charcoal or pencil sketch, you should use a thin mixture of brown or gray patnt from your palette. Draw with the brush as you would with the pencil or charcoal,
and use
free,
simple lines
yourself a skeleton chart of the
and tones
picture
to
to
give
be painted.
35
Your brush drawing should be done
in
one
color.
Colors are taken from the palette and applied to the canvas with either brushes or a palette knife. Some painters use both on one picture. Most of the mixing of colors is done on the palette by dipping a brush or knife first in one color dab and then in another, and then swishing the combination about in the center of the palette until the new dab forms the color desired.
WHAT TO Everyone has
PAINT?
fine pictures within
him. The least imagi-
native person has a world of visions that no one else has
seen and that no camera will ever capture. Limited only by his skill, the artist exposes a fresh, unexplored, visual world to our gaze with each picture he paints. Inevitably an artist can only simulate nature.
The
vast
even one tree would take a lifetime to reproduce exactly. Fortunately we are never called upon to do that. The human eye approximates and generalizes the enormous profusion of nature. The painter's eye adds to this approximation and generalization another qualifying process, that of discrimination. Discrimination makes what-
detail of
ever subject you decide to paint in part a reflection of
new concept. Naturally there are some subjects that are closer to your heart than others. Never paint anything that bores you. But, on the other hand, don't bore too easily. An artist should have wide interests; almost everything is grist to his mill. His curiosity should be boundless and his mind open and alive to ideas and inventions. The reason that artists have always been thought of as people who have fun and are interesting is because they have this curiosity. The artist teaches us to see. He stimulates us to perceive things we would not have seen had we not been aroused
you, in part a
by
his rich vision.
The artist's sensation while painting is not precisely the same as the beholder's while looking at the picture. A landscape by Vlaminck or Van Gogh is often a passionate cry full
36
of the pains and frustrations of these troubled
artists.
,
r
But for the beholder there ing
power of nature
in a
ing color of flowers as
torment of the
artist
is
a rich experience of the surg-
Vlaminck storm, and in the burnseen by Van Gogh. And so the
can result
in a
wonderful experience
for the viewer.
37
VALUES For purposes of instruction there will be a concentration on painting in values rather than in colors. Color being a highly personal consideration, it follows beyond the suggestion of basic color mixing and the; listing of a basic range of colors for a beginning palette, we must leave the actual painting in color to each student's that
=
whim The
or inspiration. building of solid form based on a study of applicais one of the important steps in learning to
tion of values paint.
Let us examine the meaning of the word "value." A bright hue will obviously be more intense when surrounded by low key surroundings. A dark next to a light will appear to be deeper than when it is close to another dark. A high light will appear to be more forward on the canvas than a lesser light. A deep dark will appear to recede into the canvas.
38
It follows, therefore, that to achieve the effect of a form turning, a succession of graduated tones from bright light to dark should be used.
A
flat plane which is turned completely away from the source of a direct light will be in a deep dark. surface directly exposed to a source of bright light will be a high Ught surface. plane partially turned away from the source of direct light will create a middle tone between light and dark. These considerations are the elements of the study of values and a definition of the term. Any painting can be done in many different ways. Each person's painting is as different as his handwriting is from everyone else's. What 1 show you here is my painting handwriting yours will be quite different. But the problems you meet on the way problems in the use of the material, the first steps on canvas, the building process of your picture will be pretty much the same as the problems I have to solve. Try doing them my way first, and soon you will develop your own methods, perhaps more suitable to what you
A
A
—
—
—
have to
say.
39
BRUSH STROKES Brush strokes may vary in many ways. Some people apply their brush to the canvas boldly and freely. Others are gentle and careful. Each has his own brush "handwriting."
In addition to personal mannerisms of putting your brush to the canvas, there are ways of brush stroking that can be learned. Six such methods are shown here. 1. Shows the paint flowing on by using a brush dipped in thinned liquid color. 2. Thick paint stroked on heavily with strokes all go3.
same direction. Here the paint has been dabbed on by using the blunt end of the bristles in short, narrow jabs in-
4.
The
ing in the
stead of strokes. paint has been carefully and evenly stroked on form a solid tone. These are short, stippled dabs separated to allow the canvas to show through. to
5.
Short strokes with a semi-dry brush also planned to allow canvas to show through. You will see many other techniques of putting on paint 6.
if
you examine paintings in your local museum. You may from them, but try to find the method
learn a great deal
of applying paint that your picture.
40
is
best suited to the character of
41
HEADS, LIMBS AND FEATURES
a «>
HEADS This simply painted head is shown with proportion lines behind it to indicate where the features lie in relation to
one another.
This shows a sharp light from one direction, and its effect on the shapes of the shadows and the depth or darkness of the shadows.
44
The heads are
light
source
is
not so direct and sharp on these but the shapes of the shadows
in different positions,
still
quite clear
and defined.
The next two pages
are studies of a head from the charcoal drawings to the filled-in, light-and-shade^state. This whole study is in one color, but with various tones of that color, from dark to almost white. Strongly blocked-out solid forms help show the strength of the face.
45
i'
r
"* 46
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47
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PAINTING FEATURES The
subtle features of the
face are
more
easily
structed with paint than with the lead pencil. essentially
a
''contour''
medium
of expression.
con-
Pencil It
is
cannot
means other than shading and accent. It must inevitably "suggest." But oil paints have body. A sculptural, three dimensional form is realizable by use of suggest form by
qualities of the thick pigment. The term "impasto" means the actual forms modeled by the weight of the paint and the direction of the brush strokes, which subtly "sculpt" the features. This quality, plus the color differentiations and the elimination of "line" strokes in
the ''impasto"
favor of tonal relations,
make
oil
painting the ideal me-
dium for depicting the features. Examine the series of oil sketches of features. Notice the way they are "built" with variations of pigment thickness, tonal values and local color differentiations.
48
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49
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The mouth 50
is
an important feature.
^^^^"w
r 51
Eyes
52
tell
a story.
I You can
paint faces without very
much
detail
53
or with a good deal.
54
It's still
a face!
55
And 56
the female
is
diflferent
from the male. 57
n
iv
Arms show 58
strength or delicacy.
Hands express
character.
59
60
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Legs support weight. 61
62
Feet are the foundation.
63
IM
FIGURES
It
3m
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66
The male
torso.
67
68
The female
torso.
69
PAINTING THE NUDE There was a time when the artist was much more pre occupied with the nude than now. Every salon exhibitior abroad, and our own academy shows, had a large proportion of nudes on the walls. Art schools required long years of careful study of the male and female figure. A painter-student was expected to be able to paint ''flesh tones" so real that the pores would breathe. Anatomy was taught in the greatest detail and the Latin names of the bones and muscles had to be memorized. Happily, the pedantic study of the exact is no longer required of students and the exact depiction of humans has again been relegated to fields unrelated to painting. And although the galleries are no longer cluttered with huge paintings of nudes, the human body is a valid subject for the artist. In modern art schools, drawing from the nude is still done, but with a freedom which did not visit to a figure-drawing class today exist in the past. would disturb the academician. The nude model on the stand is interpreted in a hundred ways. The figure is often distorted, abstracted and reassembled until it is unrecog-
A
nizable as the
model on
the stand.
pressionist" students interpret the
The
model
less
modern
"ex-
as a part of their
own inner struggle rather than as an individual. The impressionist-minded students treat the figure as a mere reflection of light and color, and its human properties are neglected.
Very few about the
artists
who
remain
figure. All this
is
as
Granted that the "real"
is
it
are completely should be.
desirable
literal
on occasion,
it
is
certainly debatable whether the detailed outer aspects of a
any more valid than the impressions made upon who sees the figure through eyes conditioned by what he as an individual thinks and feels. Shown on page 72 is a "finished" drawing of a nude figure
figure are
the viewer
70
which we will use as our model. It was drawn from the model with a view toward emphasizing the tonal values and the shadows. It is not necessary to attempt to make so finished a drawlive
preparing to paint. is merely to serve as our model. As you advance you will probably paint from the live model or even use pure invention and paint without one. The artist is confronted by a canvas of two dimensions: that of height and width. There is no third dimension depth. The one-sixth of an inch or so thickness of his canvas or panel is, of course, impenetrable. This gives him only a flat plane upon which to apply ing, in
This
—
paint.
There are painters who
feel that to attempt to violate two-dimensional space with ''eye fooling" suggestions of a third plane is to evade the challenge of honest, "natural" space. These painters are content to work within the limitations set by the picture plane before them. They feel no need to "penetrate" the flat plane. If you study the works of most abstract and non-objective painters you will notice that rarely do they attempt to sugthis
surface,
back and forth movement "into" the flat picture plane. Other painters seek methods of suggesting the third dimension in their pictures. They utilize every method, short of carving their way into the working surface, in order to convey depth and distance. There are several methods of deceiving the eye so that it is carried back into the picture plane, simulating inches gest
or miles of depth.
The main methods are perspective and variations of values of darks and lights. Contrasting sizes of forms suggesting distance by diminishing and nearness by exaggerating are often employed.
A may
certain amount of back and forth movement in space be simulated by varying the thickness of the pigment
as
is
it
applied to the canvas.
71
72
A
SERIES OF FIGURE STUDIES
Each of the nude figures that follows has been carried from the first drawing study to the point in the painting where the main forms have been indicated by the shapes of the shadow tones, which indicate turns of form away from and toward the source of light. In each series, effort has been solidity of
form and
made
fluidity of line
to
indicate
how
can be attained with
most economical detail. Only the large, important anatomical forms of each area of the body have been painted. the
The "finish"
now ready to receive the Skin textures, subtle anatomical details
figure studies in oil are
desired.
and local color are now applicable upon these basic figure and form studies. Study and analyze every step in each of these poses. No two offer quite the same problem. Effort has been made to choose poses which will help the student deal with most commonplace positions assumed in sitting, walking or reclining.
73
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74
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77
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79
80
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82
V..,
83
84
4
85
86
CLOTHING This oil sketch shows a nude figure next to a clothed study of the same figure. The drape of the clothes is affected by the forms beneath the cloth as well as by the pull of gravity. Notice the strain of the cloth where protruding forms thrust against it, and the easy fall of the cloth subjected to gravity.
87
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^^
STILL LIFE
It
Ta
1)1'
x STILL LIFE A Still-life painting is a painting of objects that have no power of motion. Flowers are alive, but they are inanimate. They can't move under their own power. Fruit and vegetables are also living things without that power. All the non-moving objects of nature, as well as objects made
by man, are subjects for still-life painting. The most popular still-life subjects are flowers and fruit, but anything that attracts you by its color or shape is a
good thing
One
to put in a still-life painting.
great advantage of
to painting people,
is
that
still-life
still-life
you without moving or getting 92
painting,
if
compared
objects will pose for
tired. If
you paint
a land-
and light change every few minutes. A be your patient model for as long as you
scape, the color still
need
life
will
it.
up the small group of objects about five feet away from your canvas. Don't make too complicated a group for your early studies. Two or three objects that make a good Set
design together should be enough. Here are four stages of the painting. These were done to show how roundness is suggested by tones of color.
Once you know from which ing,
you know
that
all
sides
direction the light
facing
brighter than the sides that are turned
the
light
away from
is
com-
will
be
the light.
93
94
95
LIGHT There are two main sources of color in* every object to be painted. They are the local color and color produced by
light on the For instance
object.
intrinsically green. Subjected to color from flowers, tree trunks, sparkles of dew, the blue of the sky and innumerable other things, the intrinsic green color will assume many different
sunlight,
a
leaf
reflection
is
of
hues.
Since everything is subject to light and shade it is obvious that local, intrinsic color is not static. Nothing exposed to light or shade is all red or green, or any one color. As an exercise, take a ball or a cube of any kind. Place it in one position in relation to the source of light, and then in another. Observe the change in its intrinsic color under various conditions. For great examples of study of the effect of light upon the local color of objects look at the paintings of the Impressionists
— Renoir,
Seurat, Sisley, Pissarro and others
of that school.
COMPOSITION The "composition"
of a picture is a very important composition means good placement of all the objects and the spaces around them in the frame of your thing.
Good
canvas. "live comfortably" in the sphere should be sufficiently large to fill the area well without being so large as to crowd the space.
Your composition must
of your canvas.
96
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97
98
99
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-
LANDSCAPE PAINTING The non-painter regards
a landscape and his response be on a very high plane of emotion. Its beauty or majesty or drama may register with as great an impact as that which the painter receives. But the painter is called upon to reinterpret what he sees and feels. He must allow the vast profusion of nature to percolate until the essence caji be transferred to his canvas. The distilled interpretation that results carries an even greater impact, due to its selectivity and the consequent intensification of the emotional story involved in the landscape. It is no patronizing affront to the wonders of nature that the artist sets himself the task of reorganizing and simplifying. Rather, it is an acknowledgment of the inadequacy of the eye and mind of the observer to encompass nature's magnificent complexity. Only a condensation is possible for the observer as well as for the artist.
may
In the process of that condensation an alchemy takes the mixture of things seen and the artist's emotions,
place
—
plus
his
result
is
inevitable
need for selective organization. The it is not a slavish copy of the scene
creative in that
but a vista never seen or painted before. Sometimes this new creation does not encompass the immensity or beauty of nature, but if it is honestly made,
have a validity of its own. best landscape paintings have always been those in which the artist has set a limited objective for his canvas statement. It is obvious that an area of lawn cannot be emulated on canvas by reproducing each blade of grass with every shadow and light on each blade. Some means of restating the story of that lawn must be found and here is where the artist becomes the aforementioned alchemist. There is no one way of achieving the restatement. Each of us has inevitably his own peculiar viewpoint and purpose. Some of the methods of approach to simplification it
will
The
—
and the techniques of transference to canof things seen can be described here, but the final choice must come vas
—
from you. 102
i»
LET'S PAINT
*
«
A LANDSCAPE
you must make your choice of what landscape
First,
to paint.
As you walk about through the park or the country, look for a part of the wide area around you suitable for a "picture."
Use your two hands to "frame" several spots that you This will cut out from the big spread of country the small part you wish to paint. Now half-close your eyes until the area framed by your hands becomes very simple because all the tiny details
like.
have been eliminated.
You it
are
now
"visualizing" your picture for transferring
to canvas.
103
When you
have decided to paint that scene,
set
up your
work comfortably. You can prop your canvas board up against a tree or rock and use the ground about you as your work table. If
materials so you can
you have a small folding the better, but
if
easel
and a canvas stool, so much keep you from painting.
not, don't let that
Remember
that when you are painting outdoors the change every hour with the sun. In the morning the light and color will be quite different from the light and color of noontime and different again in the afternoon. You must decide what part of the day's color you like best. Mix those colors on your palette. Try to do your coloring in that part of the day, and use the other hours for preparing, drawing, composing, etc. Begin by drawing in the main features of your landscape. These would be the biggest objects and the over-all light will
design of the area.
You may draw
with charcoal or directly with a brush an easy flowing ''neutral" color, like brown or gray. If you draw lightly, even green tree tops and grass may be placed with the neutral color. It will be covered by the tree color as you build your picture. When you have composed your picture in such a way that your whole canvas is occupied interestingly, you are ready to paint. Block in the big shapes. See where the most light comes
dipped
in
from and which way the shadows fall; this will tell you where the main lights and darks of your picture will be. Notice that the objects and areas nearest your eye are the most sharply defined. The darks and the lights on them
As things go back into the distance, they become more blurred and softened. The area nearest to you is called the foreground. Here will be your darkest darks and your lightest lights. Your are strongest.
brightest colors and your deepest ones will appear in the foreground. The next area is the middle distance. This lies in the center portion of your view and of your canvas. All the shadows and objects will be smaller than those in the foreground even if they actually are bigger in life. For instance, a tree in the distance looks smaller than a bush
near your eyes.
104
fvRn€^
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'^^^^'^^^j»p«3^
^-<
^ /
,«^j3e*»^>i'^^»«'n«Jgsgsfy^^^
^^
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iR$T H^^re^
^^^#^^'^'^
^^
^/^ ""TC'^^^U
And
SKETC^t
the colors in the middle-distance areas will be less
intense than those in the foreground.
The This
is
third division of your painting
is
the background.
the most distant area, and, of course, the strengths
of its shadows, lights, and colors are even dimmer than those in the foreground and middle distance. By decreasing the size of the objects and their color and light strength,
105
m
WF^
you give an impression of distance in the flat surface of your picture. Paint with broad strokes, and don't try to crowd in too much detail. Say what impresses you most in the landscape, and don't try to be a camera. This "first step" painting places the main shapes and 106
'^4
divisions of
the landscape.
area, the shapes of the
In the foreground, or front tree are large and boldly
bush and
painted.
Over the first hill is the middle distance, the center area of your picture. Objects there will naturally appear smaller than those in the foreground. The tones of color will not 107
be as strong. This will help give the impression of distance.
The background area, in this case, is made up of the mountains and the sky. Being farthest from your eye, the small details are lost, and only the big outlines of mountain shapes and the cloud form can be shown. The landscape 108
is
shown here with
the fine details of the
picture painted
in.
Only such details as will help show the character of the farm land and the nature of the trees and bushes have been painted. Notice that the lines of the plowed land and the crops help to show the rounded forms of the hills. 109
I
t
r
Now try a landscape with a figure. This is the sketch on your canvas. The next two pictures show the steps that follow.
110
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116
^1
There is always a point at which the artist has said what he wishes to say, and it is at that point that he should stop. Japanese water-color painters are masters of this economy of statement in paint. Try painting some simple plant and tree forms in this manner. 117
r^s^
Now, 118
let's
go down to the water.
>
120
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121
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Back 122
to the hills, but with the addition of water.
^ I
123
Try 124
a self-portrait in a landscape.
t
I
125
PAINT ROLLERS The common household paint roller may be used to making vigorous oil or casein paintings.
great advantage in
Such an implement should not be considered as a time saving device or an easy tool for covering large areas of canvas background. It is, rather, a subtle instrument in its own right, capable of producing vital paint surfaces, patinas and blendings
quite different
from those achieved with even the broadest
brush strokes.
Reproduced here are several paintings made almost enwith paint rollers. Even the paint "drawing" was
tirely
accomplished with the edge of the roller. I use rollers about three inches wide. They are available in most paint stores.
For certain aspects of the painting, the fresh resilient nap of a new roller is desirable, but rollers covered with dried coats of paint are equally useful and can apply paint with the spontaneity of a palette knife. For use with the roller, a large glass or porcelain slab
makes an
excellent palette.
put heavy dabs of three or four colors on the palette and use a separate roller for each color. I do the blending directly on the canvas. You will probably find the roller a clumsy instrument at first, but it is worth your while to devote a certain amount of practice to it, until you achieve dexterity in applying I
paint to your canvas. Very little oil or turp
medium should be used. Much of the virtue of the roller as a paint applier lies in its fresh impasto of painting, thick and almost three dimensional in
appearance on your canvas. 126
^
127
128
^.--
The
tiger
is
an example of what you can achieve
with rollers.
129
J
ABSTRACT AND NON-OBJECTIVE It is not with the intention of being patronizing that wish to pay tribute to the contributions which the nonobjective painters have made to the creative life. Though each artist has strong preferences regarding schools of I
art expression, and am no exception, a thinking man cannot fail to see that the art of non-objective painters has transformed architecture and industrial design in the modern world. It has changed the appearance of our clothes and cars, our ships and planes, our cooking utensils and our children's toys. In most cases it has stimulated an enormous improvement over the design of the fifty-year period preceding the advent of non-objective painting. But as an end in itself, the retreat from representational art to the point where no object in nature is depicted, but only the shapes and forms, colors and rhythms invented by each individual artist, is to my mind not thoroughly satisfying. This opinion should not preclude a serious study of the non-objective artist and an attempt on the part of the student to understand his aims. I
There are no rule^ to this game of abstracting except own good taste and sense of balance suggest to you. But you must not move those shapes about without some planned design. An abstract design needs good composition. Only the needs of your composition give you those your
permission to abstract. Once you have decided upon your subject, two forces go to work to evolve your concept of the picture. A large percentage of your painting will be intuitively realized, but a very consciously thought-out plan of action must accompany your inspirational sources. Those who consider the creative act of painting a picture so highly intuitive a process that thinking can have no place of importance in it, will insist that learned rules or planned procedures are not necessary. They believe that painting is a sort of automatic writing. All past art and the artists who created it are refutations of this mystic theory. The fine artist never lived who was not intelligent and cultivated
The combination
must be nicely balanced 130
—
a thinker
on a rational plane.
of the rational and the unconscious to
produce a good painting.
WATER COLORS^
—
WATER COLORS Although water colors are used more widely than any other coloring technique, they are by no means the easiest to use. Their greatest virtue lies in the clean,
spontaneous
nature of their application, which gives a transparent water-color painting a freshness and sparkle unattainable with any other medium.
At the same time, this quality demands an assured brush stroke and a preconceived image of the ultimate picture not required in oil painting. Whereas in oils the artist may experiment, build up to a desired result by covering unsuccessful areas or scraping them out, the water-colorist
—
here to "true" water colors the transparent, not must preserve the freshness of delicate flows of clear color, superimposed on the sparkling surface of paper. It is not my intention to frighten the student away from the use of an especially fine medium of expression. I wish merely to point out that the tyro in water-color painting must depend less on correction and repair than the artist in any other medium. In his favor is the fact that he, along with most children, has at one time used water colors in school or at home. Thus the materials of the process are much more familiar to him than are, for instance, oil paints. His "coloring book" experience will help in that the fear of the unknown has been eliminated. Those of us who went on with water colors, because of special interest in art, delighted in this luminous medium transparent water-color painting and its related watersoluble paints, casein, tempera and gouache. Here we shall demonstrate a few ways to apply water (I refer
the opaque)
colors.
Your
results
will
differ
from mine
matter, anyone else's results. That are you,
and you
will
have your
is
own
—
or,
inevitable,
for that
for
you
paint "handwriting."
Study the following pages. The methods demonstrated many artists have similar approaches and they have made beautiful water-color paintare not the only ones, but
ings.
134
Among there are
the
many
enjoyable features of painting
no hard and
fast rules
and there
is
is
that
no one way
of using your materials.
As you go on with your
art studies,
you
will
probably
invent some tools of your own which will serve your special needs. Some water-color painters use sponges to blot out areas of their tones, others use scrapers made of wire brushes or a razor blade to make white lines in a painted area. Tooth brushes are sometimes used for scrambling surfaces or for spattering paint in little dots of color. Anything that helps you to say what you wish to say, in the
most colorful manner,
is
permissible.
135
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139
THE WET METHOD Many water-color painters flow an even, clear, water cover on their lightly drawn, water-color paper, wait until it is in a damp state, and begin their painting. The colors are blended with the dampened surface. Edges become soft and
beautiful.
This shows the soft blending obtained by painting on damp paper. Notice how the edges merge and become furry as the colors flow into one another.
140
DRY-PAPER PAINTING Notice the crisp edges and sharply defined details. They that way because they are formed by the brush and not joined to a softening dampness underneath. Each method is capable of producing fine effects. In most cases both are used in making the same painting.
come out
141
COMBINED WET AND DRY PAINTING A
'•
combination of the pre-dampened paper painting and
the direct, dry-paper painting can be very effective.
To achieve it, wet the paper and complete your spontaneous painting in the flowing, wet technique. Allow the first stage to dry before applying the direct-dry or semidry brush strokes. 142
eavArtfr
PAH r* 143
Areas that are untouched by the brush are often as much a part of the picture as those painted.
In no other clear paper
medium
become
of painting but water color can the
a part of the picture with such effec-
tiveness.
•
144
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^.
Almost all the structure is 'implied" by leaving the white paper untouched by the brush. The background throws the white forms into sharp relief. The few strokes of the brush ''suggest'' parts of the features just enough for the beholder's imagination to supply the rest.
—
145
'
-'•'^^'=^..;^
A
water-color sketch which will serve to show that fea.riot always be painted in such explicit details as indicated in many of these sketches. Sometimes a simple dab of paint will indicate an eye with greater power than tures need
most careful rendering. These heads have been painted in two values of watercolor wash. A wash being a watery dilution of the waterthe
it flows very freely. Practice will develop a certain dexterity in controlling the limits of this free flow. The two values (or depths) are used to give contrast
color pigment,
and form, and
to indicate
shadow
as well as greater or
lesser intensity of local color.
weT 146
147
^tM
Try drawing directly with your water-color brush, as though it were a pencil. You will, of course, get broader strokes harder to control at first, but you will find that your water-color sketches will have greater freshness than those in which you filled in
—
penciled outlines.
148
In the final stages of your water-color sketch, you must build with a series of darker flows of color, one laid over
another, until you achieve the depth of tones desired. Applying the dark areas in glazes, on layers of tone, will give those areas more vibrance than they have when
painted directly with dark pigment from the tubes.
149
-
\^ ^'%, '^'^
DRAWING FOR WATER-COLOR PAINTING Make your drawing in very light pencil lines on the water-color paper. Do not put too much detail into the drawing, and avoid heavy lines because they will, of course, show through the transparent color. A "true" water-color painting is made with the paint. The under-drawing should be merely a few guide
152
lines.
Be
154
fanciful!
Let yourself go!
155
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I Light changes with -each passing hour, and quence, color also changes.
When you
see a beautiful vista that
you want
in
conse-
to paint,
without being pressed for time, make notes similar to these. As a practice exercise, look out of your window now and make a ''notation drawing" of the areas of color
you 158
see.
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^«T^ These various studies of the same scene in Naples are not intended as stages of the same painting, but rather as variations of technique. Water colors may be used to achieve either very detailed, "finished" work or quick, fresh impressions in broad, free strokes.
The choice depends on your mood and
taste.
159
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w
1
The compact nature of water-color kits allows you to carry your equipment about with you at all times. Color-cake paint boxes are most convenient, and with a batch of water-color pencils, a few sable brushes of various sizes, a pad of water-color sketch paper, along with a small bottle of water and a paint rag or Kleenex tissues for
wiping your brushes, you are ready for most
sketching eventualities.
168
•
''
170
([71
^
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If
you use your imagination, you
will
never be
at a loss
for interesting things to paint.
not necessary to be exact in your drawing or color. style of painting is more important than photo graphic reproduction. It is
Your own
172
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173
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176
-^^
WATER-COLOR PENCILS AND CRAYONS There
is
available in the art supply shops an assortment
of water-color pencils and crayons; these are water-soluble colors in pencil and stick form. They are excellent for sketching and even "finished" work.
They may be used in several ways: One way is to draw with the dry usual way,
pencil or crayon in
so that your drawing resembles the conventional crayon drawing. A clear water-saturated brush, cleaned for each area of painting, is then washed over the crayon lines and tones. The pigments dissolve and take on the appearance of water colors obtained from tubes or pans. Another way of using this pleasant medium is to dip the pencil point or crayon stick in clear water and apply it to your paper. Some interesting effects result. The two methods may be combined. the
in
line
and
filled-in
tones,
177
^
X
V
CRAYON 178
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WATER COLOR 179
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CRAYON 180
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WATER COLOR 181
182
183
CASEIN Commercially prepared casein
paints,
for the art sup-
ply market, are water-soluble colors.
These paints are usually used as an opaque cover, rather than as thin, diluted washes like pure water colors. They may, however, be used transparently with good effect. A combination of the opaque and thin color washes can produce very beautiful results. Because casein contains no greasy oil, it is better than oil
for painting on paper.
often applied in thickly spread strokes. To avoid a too pliable surface that may bend creating cracks and flaked-off dried color, use heavy bristol board or illustration board. Many painters like to use casein paints on gesso boards It is
—
or gesso-covered masonite.
One
of the
many charms when dried.
of casein
is
its
mat,
its
un-
glossy character
Casein
is
quite
permanent
surface and cared for.
dammar
184
When
if
it
dried
varnish or plastic spray
is it
painted on a good be covered with
may
Here are two quite
different types of water-color paint-
ing methods.
are transparent and opaque. Both are water colors, because the paint
They
be dissolved
in
in
both
may
water, but there the similarity ends.
Transparent water-color painting
is
ing transparent, filmy washes of color
the process of flow-
on the paper.
Opaque water-color painting is the use of thick pigment, pure or mixed, which covers the paper solidly.
187
•/
Don't try to draw the details of the features at this point. Free painting, with almost scribbled strokes of the brush, gives a sketchy quality to the work. Here the head is painted with three major tones of paint in the same color: darkest dark, a middle tone, and a light tone.
188
189
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Water colors, because they flow as freely as the ink from your pen, lend themselves to fanciful play in painting. As a pleasant relief from drawing and painting directly from nature and man-made objects, try painting some "inventions." Let your imagination run
riot.
Finish and color this invented bird and then do
of your own.
190
some
191
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