Experimenting with Temperature

# 11 Temperature

This is an exercise I did with my students to demonstrate how temperature, the use of warm colors and cool colors is a big part of painting. 

We painted the same  subject using cool and warm colors in as many ways as we could think of doing. 

Even the backgrounds played a part in the examples.  Which one do you like the best?  Look for the example of warm light, warm shadow and even warm background.  There is a lot of personal preference, the subjectivity of art, but thinking about how temperature plays into a painting is what this exercise is all about. 

Which one is cool light, cool shadow?

Which one is predominantly warm in light with a touch of cool?     Cool in shadow with a touch of warm? 

Which background do you like the best?

Points to remember:  (The way I paint, if you look at my paintings you should see warms and cools used in the following way, at least I hope so because I try to do that because I like the variety it creates. 

The type of light used makes a difference in the choice of temperature.  Outdoors the sun creates a warm light and coolness in the shadow.  Indoors, depending the type of light bulb you use in the spotlight, the light can be cool and the shadows warm or just the reverse.  If you don't know the color of the light just pick either warm or cool then paint the opposite in the shadow. 

I like to include warms and cools in both light and shadow.  If the shadow is warm, I will add a little of the same value but in a cool hue.  Most of the shadow shape will be one or the other with just a small addition of the opposite temperature.  It goes back to VARIETY as a strong part of a good painting.  The shadow or light will be predominantly one or the other with just a hint of the opposite temperature. 
 
Another good exercise:


When mixing you colors and values, challenge yourself to make a warm and cool version of the same color and value. 

Tertiary Colors

September 8, 2013

Another good reason to do the 30 day challenge is that you make new discoveries and try new things.  It is sort of a journey where one thing leads to another even if it is by accident.

On day 6 I did a painting of three paint tubes using tertiary colors of blue-green, magenta and yellow orange.  The neutral in the background uses those three colors.  (Another benefit of the challenge is that another artist doing the challenge pointed that out to me in her comment in yesterday's blog and thank you to her).    It did create a harmony in the painting by using just those three colors. 

So on Day 7 I thought I would try just using those three colors again, but this time the painting was very high key with pinks.  I used temperature changes for contrast, but kept everything pastel.  For the longest time I have been trying to figure out how an artist I admire named Nancy Frankel achieves using light values that show contrast.  I think it might be with temperature changes.  Check out her work. 

In my painting for today, I'm going to test out this theory. 

Day 6 has strong values, there are temperature changes here, too. 

Day 7 has tighter values,  but used temperature changes a lot.  Plus I  only used magenta, blue-green and yellow-orange just like the colors above. 

TIDBit:  I remember reading somewhere that you should use the colors left on your palette for your signature to make it harmonious with the painting.  That is why you see the magenta used in the one below.  Of course I forgot to sign the one above.  I do that all the time.