Color

Crazy Color!

Color is defined in the artistic sense as “a sensation experienced usually as a result of light of varying wavelengths reaching the eye.  The normal human eye conveys stimuli to the brain, which vary according to the wavelength of visible light and which are interpreted by the brain to give the sensation we know as colors.  A particular color has the qualities of hue, saturation and lightness or brightness.”  There are several basic terms that are associated with color and the way we perceive it.  Color is also used in non-artistic explanations such as local color (resulting from the experience of the “real” feel of an area) or as showing one’s true colors – or striking one’s colors - indicating a dedication to one’s theory or ultimate goal.

But, from the artists’ view, color is the rule by which we do what we do when it comes to painting, pastel work, drawing and more.  We learn that hue is the attribute by which color is red, green, etc., and such a color is chromatic.   Saturation is the quality of color that depends on the amount of achromatic color mixed with it.  Achromatic color has no saturation (black, gray, white).   The lightness or brightness of an object depends on the ability to reflect or transmit more or less light.

While all that seems fairly clear, what about all the other types and names for color as artistic applications might convey?  If one understands such terms and their meanings it is easier to converse in “artistic” language.

Painting a color that is “dead” would mean that the scene is dark; it is flat and has no gloss.  This represents the lack of any life on the surface.  This again has a relationship between the eye and the color that is reflected by that scene.  Nearly the opposite of “happy” color, dead color is said to be “sad” and not stimulating to the eye.  Dead colors are usually employed to represent somber scenes.

Earth colors are those that either replicate or are actually earth minerals.  All the colors of soil, earth, stone, etc., fall into this category.  Minerals such as ferric oxide, when used as pigments, create sienna.  Ochre contains minerals like silica and alumina and ferric oxide.  Umber is earth pigment of browns and brown-reds.

Warm colors are any which are associated with fire, heat, sun and warmth—high temperatures and hot colors.  Those include reds, oranges and yellows.  If the scene warms you, it will have these rich tones to replicate that feeling.

Cool colors are at the opposite end of the spectrum from warm.  These colors often remind us of cool places or things and often appear to move away from you or appear more distant.  The ranges of colors included as cool are blues, greens and purples.

Pastel colors can mean either the color itself or the painting with chalk (pastel).  A pastel color is soft, pale and delicate.  Most are variations of chromatic colors mixed with white to decrease the intensity of the colors.  A pastel painting is one done with special pigment-rich chalk sticks. Pastel paintings are most often done on paper, are fragile to the touch and must be displayed under glass. 

Muddy colors are not bright colors nor are they pure.  They are discolored by impurities or by over-mixing paints on a palette.  They are often called “dirty” colors because they do not represent any pure, clean color.

Color is fascinating as a study or to implement in a painting or other artwork.  It is the cornerstone of art itself.  With color, striking realization and interest can be created.  While there are many opportunities to use less vibrant tones, it is color that draws the eye and holds our fascination.  Somber subjects dictate the use of somber tones, but most of us are drawn to subjects rich in color. So slather it on and enjoy crazy color!

Art Competitions

—Richeson 75:  International Art Competition – Landscape, Seascape & Architectural 2011
Richeson School of Art & Gallery, a Division of Jack Richeson & Co. Kimberly, WI

June 24 – August 26.

Seventy-five two-dimensional works of art and several alternates will be selected to represent the finest examples of painting and drawing being produced by today’s visual artists.  Artists over age 18 may apply in three categories:  Oils, Oil Pastel/Paintstiks; Pastels and Drawing/Dry Media; and Water Media/Other (Printmaking, Mixed Media, etc.).  Best in Show award of $3,000; 2 First Prizes of $1,000 in Richeson Art Materials Certificates; and 2 Second Prizes of $500 in Certificates.  Prospectus: www.richeson75.com; email Artschool@richesonart.com. Deadline:  March 28.

—7^th Annual Northeast National Pastel Exhibition
Arts Center Old Forge
Old Forge, NY

May 14 – June 26

This exhibition is competitive and open to all living artists working in soft pastel.  At least 80% of the final painting surface must be in soft pastel and all entries must be original.  This will be the first national show hung in the new state-of-the-art green-built, green-operated building.  $5,000 cash and awards.  See a prospectus at www.ArtsCenterOldForge.org; 315.369.6411.  Deadline:  Feb. 4.

—AANC 20^th National Art Exhibition & Sale
Artists Association of Northern Colorado
Fort Collins, CO

April 9 – May 7

The exhibition is open to all adult artists.  Two-dimensional and three-dimensional original artwork only is eligible.  More than $6,000 in cash awards and more than $2,000 in merchandise awards.  Prospectus:  www.artistsassoc.org.  970.223.6450.  Deadline:  Feb. 4.

—Snow Sculpture Competition
The Highline
New York, NY

The first big snowfall of the season may be just around the corner.  And when it happens, grab your hat and mittens and bring your creativity to the High Line for a snow sculpture competition.  Details will be announced in advance of the competition on www.thehighline.org and e-newsletter.  So stay tuned!

Art Studio

Artist Safety

As children, we all did things because we were told they were good for us.  As it turns out, that doesn’t change with age.  Safety is more than an idea; it should be a way of life for creative persons because they come into contact with many materials and applications that can be harmful.  From paints to tools, sprays to equipment, the safe use of materials is absolutely essential.  It’s smart to first read product instructions and guidelines for product safety.

In the studio or creative space it is always a good idea to maintain a small first aid kit.  Also having eye wash and antiseptic on hand is advised.  Goggles for eye protection when dealing with any particles and good, non-frayed cords for all electric equipment are essential.

For general safety, always have a fire extinguisher handy.  One never knows when combustion might occur and to have a good, operating fire extinguisher is smart whether you are creating in the studio, garage or even the kitchen.

Initially, artists usually begin with simple materials such as pencil or charcoal drawing on paper.  While they are some of the least dangerous media, they do have some cautions associated with long-exposure.  Pencil lead is not lead today, although it was once.  It’s formulated from carbon, something not wise to ingest or inhale.  Charcoal dust is very light, but not good to breathe or consume. (Wash those fingers!)

Painters face the added dangers of heavy metal and petrochemical and mineral solvent contact.  With basic safety and product knowledge, any artist can use oils, acrylics, alkyds, modeling pastes, solvents and mediums without fear.  Long-term absorption into the skin of any oil or chemical is unwise.  Wearing surgical gloves will prevent such absorption and prevent any buildup of heavy metal/poisons in the body.  Oil paints use many compounds that can be harmful, but, again, the level of exposure with basic safety procedures is minimal. 

Sculptors who grind and sand surfaces of wood, stone or metal are at risk if they work without the aid of a respirator.  A particle mask is insufficient to do the job totally because minute particles will creep through the mesh of the mask.  And bandana/handkerchief “masks” are even less effective.  It is always better to be safe than to learn too late.

Airbrush artists face continuous exposure to floating particles of paint.  These can cause respiratory distress from nasal congestion to inflammation to serious infections.  Always use a respirator for safety during paint application and cleaning of your airbrush.  In addition, good ventilation is absolutely essential in the airbrush studio.

Use of any equipment should be preceded by a thorough understanding of its operation.  Read and follow all instructions/suggestions because they are provided for your safety.  Through testing and use, precautions are explained so you are forewarned about possible problems.  But why take a chance?   Read and heed! 

Keeping your tools clean is another important responsibility for artists.  Old paint should be removed from brushes and those rags disposed of properly.  Clothing that is heavily soiled with paints should be discarded.  No oil or solvent-soaked rags, towels or paper should be stored improperly and disposal should be done correctly.

Now that some of the warnings and suggestions have been recognized, go ahead and have some creative fun.  Just use good common sense and a modicum of caution and you should not have problems.

Art Events

NOMA 100 Kickoff Celebration
New Orleans, LA

Jan. 8

The New Orleans Museum of Art is celebrating 100 years, which begins with the Centennial Kickoff Celebration on Sat., Jan. 8, to start the year-long party!  It is free and open to the public and will feature activities lasting all day, beginning with the St. Aug Marching 100 at 10 a.m. and followed by dessert, mask making inspired by art inside NOMA, Symphony Chorus performance, ballet and an hour of opera in the Sculpture Garden.  Let the good times roll!  www.noma100.com.

The Los Angeles Art Show/
26^th Annual IFPDA Print Fair
Los Angeles Convention Center

Jan. 19-23

The Lost Angeles Art Show/IFPDA Print Fair will be the centerpiece of the citywide LA Arts Month.  The LAAS features thousands of works of art from around the world and from a range of periods including Old Master works, Impressionist, Modern and Contemporary art and more.  Also featured is a unique interactive exhibition and display related to the highly anticipated regional exhibition PACIFIC STANDARD TIME created by the renowned Getty Foundation.  www.laartshow.com.

The Print Fair will include fine prints across a broad spectrum of prices and styles from Old Master, German Expressionist, antique and modern Japanese, American Regionalist, and Modern works to Contemporary masterworks and new editions, among others.  Also see printmaking demos, attend a panel discussion on collecting prints today and more.  www.laartshow.com/pages/print_fair.html.

The Art Marketplace

New Templates from Artool

Artool Products Co. has announced the new Artool Viking FX Freehand Airbrush Templates designed by Craig Fraser and the Wood Grain FX Freehand Airbrush Templates by Dennis Mathewson.  Viking FX are composed from imagery that the Icelandic culture left on Craig over the years of teaching airbrush in the land of the Vikings!  The four stencils include Runes, Vahalla, Berserker, and Draugar and are also available as a Set and in a Mini Series.  When used separately or all together they can conjure up some heavy duty “mjog svalt” (Icelandic for very kewl) murals and/or graphic designs.

The Wood Grain FX will give you all of the advantages that seasoned professional painters have trusted in for many years.  Each size template includes a Graining Template and a Knot Template.  Plus, with each package you will receive a step-by-step instructional guide in which Dennis Mathewson shares secrets so that you can achieve realistic wood grain effects every time.  See your Iwata-Medea-Artool supplier and go to www.ArtoolProducts.com.

Airbrush

Tips for Selecting and Working with Compressors

To begin your airbrushing experience, you must attach the airbrush to an air source.  The most commonly used air source is the compressor, and there is a wide selection designed especially for use with airbrush technique.

The first requirement for an airbrush compressor is the amount of air it is capable of supplying to the airbrush.  The minimum is ½ cubic foot of air per minute (cfm) at 25 pounds per square inch (psi) for each airbrush that is used simultaneously.  For example, if you wish to hook up two airbrushes you will need 1 cfm at 25 psi.  If working in a classroom environment with 10 students, a minimum of 5 cfm at 25 psi would be required.  One airbrush can be propelled with a small compressor, but if 5 cfm is required for 10 students, a larger compressor is required.

The size of the compressor needed is also dependent on the air pressure at which you are working and the size of the spray equipment used.  For example, a spray gun may use up to 7-8 cfm to work properly.  If spraying inks or dyes, 25 psi will suffice, but if working with lacquers or epoxies and a larger spray tool, 50 psi may be required.

With airbrush compressors you can never have too much air, but it’s possible to have too little, and this will affect the airbrush and how it sprays.  Whatever the size of the compressor, you will also require an air regulator, which enables you to control the amount of air that reaches the airbrush for various effects.  Most compressors designed for airbrush technique come with a regulator already attached and there’s a knob at the top to adjust the air flow.  Usually the knob will have a lock action, where you must lift up to unlock, adjust to the desired pressure and reset the knob in the locked position.  Notice the regulator/gauges at the top of the Iwata Power Jet Pro.

Most regulators contain a moisture trap at the bottom.  The purpose is to remove any moisture that is produced by the hot air of the compressor cooling off and thus developing condensation.  It’s imperative that this be trapped before it reaches the airbrush.  Also available are in-line moisture traps that can be inserted into the airbrush hose as well as airbrush filters—called pistol grip filters—that attach directly to the airbrush.  Many airbrush artists have a regulator attached to an airbrush holder right at their work station. 

In addition, be sure that all hose connections to the compressor are airtight.  The use of Thread Sealant Tape on all threaded areas is highly recommended.

Airbrush compressors today are mostly piston operated, although there are still some models that are diaphragm.  Piston operated can be either oil-less or oil-immersed.  Oil-less compressors are pretty much maintenance free and are of a smaller size.  Oil-immersed compressors contain oil in the crankcase to prevent them from seizing up and over heating.  With these you must have an oil trap so that no oil escapes into the air source.  The oil must be added to the crankcase periodically and there’s normally a gauge that helps you to determine when oil needs to be added or changed.  Otherwise, airbrush compressors are built to last a lifetime when properly maintained.

Once you understand how to set up and maintain your compressor, you will be free to concentrate on perfecting your airbrush techniques.  When purchasing a compressor, it’s wise to consult your art materials retailer for information and recommendations.  Iwata (www.iwata-medea.com) carries a full line of silent compressors from the Ninja Jet and Silver Jet (smaller compressors) to the MaxxJet, which is self-contained in its own wheeled portable case.  And Silentaire Technology (www.silentaire.com)manufactures very large compressors that handle large spray guns as well as airbrushes.

Kids’ Korner

Color Forms I Exhibition

Virtually from birth when they are issued skull caps to keep their heads warm in the nursery, girls are associated with the color pink and boys with the color blue.   In Color Forms I at Kidspace at MASS MoCA, North Adams, MA, artist Portia Munson focuses on how the colors pink and blue help to shape and reinforce gender roles.  Running through Feb. 27, this is the first of a two-part series of exhibitions and is targeted toward third through eighth graders.  www.massmoca.org.

Student Tours of Post-Impressionist and Impressionist Exhibition

Attention educators! Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art is on view at the Museum of Fine Art Houston from Feb. 20 – May 23, 2011, and discounted admission rates are available to school groups for guided tours.  The presentation showcases works by Mary Cassatt, Paul Cezanne, Edgar Degas, Vincent van Gogh, Edouard Manet, Claude Monet, Auguste Renoir, Georges Seurat and Henry de Toulouse-Lautrec.  Programs designed for educators are offered as well.  Email schools@mfah.org for more information.

Scout Days

All levels of scouts can have fun making their own art at the Detroit Institute of Art.  Junior level Girl Scouts and Webelo and Varsity Boy Scouts can select a project in clay, jewelry, painting or printmaking.  Projects for Cub Scouts, Brownie and Daisy Scouts include clay pinch pots, painting and printmaking.  Then with the guidance of a DIA professional artist, complete projects in your selected area, work on badge requirements and get a DIA Scout Days patch during a two-hour workshop just for your Troop or Pack.  Max. 30 participants.  Fee.  Call 313.833.6448 or email sdecorte@dia.org.

ArtPourri

Fellowships Announced – The national grant-making and advocacy organization United States Artists (USA) has selected 52 outstanding artists to receive 50 USA Fellowships for 2010, awarding them with unrestricted grants of $50,000.  The artists hail from 18 states and Puerto Rico, range in age from 32 to 71, and include the fields of architecture and design, crafts and traditional arts and visual arts, among several others.  See www.unitedstatesartists.org/news/usa/pr_fellows_2010.

Turner Prize Winner Named – Tate Britain has announced that the Turner Prize 2010 has been awarded to Susan Philipsz.  The jury admired the way in which her work provokes both intellectual and instinctive responses and reflects a series of decisions about the relationship between sound and sight.  Her work draws on the immersive properties of sound and uses her own voice to create powerful sculptural experiences.

Ground Broken in Miami – Following years of planning and anticipation, the Miami Art Museum has broken ground for its new Herzog & de Meuron-designed facility in Downtown Miami’s Museum Park and next to the future home of the Miami Science Museum.  The new site, overlooking Biscayne Bay, is scheduled to open to the public in 2013.

Auction News – Christie’s led the fall auction season in New York with auctions of Impressionist, Modern, Post-War and Contemporary Art totaling $611.6 million.  New world auction records were set for Matisse, Lichtenstein, Gris and Calder, among others.  Swann Galleries’ American Art & Contemporary Art auction sales totaled more than $1.8 million.  Top lots were from Joan Mitchell, Jim Dine and Andrew Wyeth.  The annual auction of Rare & Important Travel Posters resulted in Swann’s best sale of this subject to date.  Top lot was Montague Birrell Black’s celebrated poster for the White Star Line depicting the Olympic & Titanic ships at sea, which sold for $36,000.

Grant Recipients Announced – The Creative Capital/Warhol Foundation Arts Writers Grant Program has announced the recipients of its 2010 grant cycle.  Designed to encourage and reward writing about contemporary art that is rigorous, passionate, eloquent and precise, the program aims to strengthen the field as a whole and to ensure that critical writing remains a valued mode of engaging the visuals. A total of $600,000 has been awarded to 20 individual writers, with grants ranging from $8,000 to $45,000 in four categories. See http://creative-capital.org/news_items/view/125 for recipients.

Met Exhibitions Aid Economy – The Metropolitan Museum’s concurrent presentation of three acclaimed and widely attended special exhibitions over the summer 2010 season—Picasso in The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Doug + Mike Starn on the Roof:  Big Bambu and American Woman:  Fashioning a National Identity—generated $784 million in economic activity by regional, national and international tourists to New York, according to a visitor survey.  This translates to a direct tax benefit to the City and State of some $78.4 million.

Rob Pruitt’s 2010 Art Awards Announced – The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum has announced the winners of Rob Pruitt’s 2010 Art Awards, the second annual celebration honoring notable individuals, exhibitions and projects that made a significant contribution to the field of contemporary art during the past year.  Awards in 15 categories were presented, including to Lena Dunham for The Rob Pruitt Award.  See www.guggenheim.org/new-york/press-room/releases/3826-2010-art-awards.

NEA News – The latest round of NEA funding totaling $26.68 million has been announced, with 1,057 grants awarded to nonprofit national, regional, state and local organizations nationwide.  This also includes the NEA’s most recent class of Creative Writing Fellows.  See a complete listing at www.nea.gov/news/news10/grant-announcement-november.html.

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Copyright ARTtalk Vol. 21, No. 3 — January 2011