Articles

Arrange the colors on your palette: This is a personal matter. The important
thing is to arrange the colors in a way that makes sense to you (and stick to that arrangement.) Then you will at least know where your color is. One useful method is to arrange the paints across the top of the palette, going from left to right and from warm to cool. You move from red, to yellow, to green and finally to blue. You can put white on the left.

Confused about warm and cool colors???? There are three warm colors: Yellow, Orange and Red, and three cool colors: Violet, Blue and Green.

The warm color can be cooled by adding a touch of a cool color, and the cool colors are warmed by a small addition of a warm color. The result is a warmed cool color and a cool warm color. (Easy, huh!)

Here's how this works! Since a painting of a subject and its surroundings actually record a lighting on that composition, all the colors have to be consistently influenced by that colored light. Therefore, if you were to shine a red colored spotlight on your subject matter, a little red color would have to be included in all the color mixtures of the entire composition.

Relating this to your painting, it would seem that you must train your eye to recognize the subtle difference of warm and cool versions of color.

Look at your color wheel (if you don't have one then go buy one right away because they are so valuable in understanding color temperature.) Each of the colors can vary in hue because it tends toward the color next to it on the color wheel. When a yellow tends toward cool green and is a greenish yellow, it is a cooler version of yellow than a yellow that tends toward orange.

As a former student of Helen Van Wyk, this was drummed into me and has followed me through many years of oil paintings and watercolors.

[Submitted by Joan Roster]

I have been painting in oils for over thirty years, have shown my work in many galleries in Mass. and RI., thought I would like to make a suggestion to the artists that feel insecure about painting a summer scene with a lot of green. Yes, it can be difficult but by using a warm under-painting, like red or orange, you can keep the green warm because the under-painting will keep coming through.

For those that don't know how, try using a combination of red and a touch of white painted very thinly with turpentine or try orange and white using the same method. This combination has a wonderful way of coming through and keeping the green warm.

Remember that to keep this a successful scene to add something red (such as a bush with red berries, flowers, a boat) anyway, you get the message. Keep it fun because painting is a wonderful therapy and you can never feel bored or lack for something to do.

Have fun, experiment and most of all don't be afraid to try it. If you don't like what you have done you can always wipe it down or paint over it.

[Submitted by Joan Roster]

Member contributed article by Kristen Kearns [kris103k at hotmail dot com]

My children and I have been going to RISD (Rhode Island School of Design) Art Museum’s “Free-for-All” Saturday kids program for the last 6 years. RISD is located just a short drive in Providence, Rhode Island. We don’t make every month, but even when we do go several months in a row, there is always something new and interesting. I would recommend this from ages 4-11. The crafts allow a small child with adult help, but are challenging enough for the older children.

Each month involves a certain theme, sometimes to do with the time of year (summer, flowers, always masks in October). When you first get there, the kids pick up a scavenger hunt, and based on that month’s theme, they have to find art described or shown in the scavenger hunt paperwork. There are usually two craft-style workshops going on at all times, such as making a mask, working with paint, decorating tiles, carving hieroglyphics. There is also a scheduled performance, such as Thailand dancers and magicians.

FYI - I took my 10 year old and her friend for the November "Free-for-All" and again, RISD did not disappoint! There were new art exhibits, so even the art there is every changing.

Last Saturday of the month, 11am-4pm
Admission is absolutely free
For Families: Free-for-All Saturdays