Portrait Artist Forum - View Single Post - Painting more 'painterly'; learning to see colors in the subject?

Minh Thong · 11-24-2003, 11:53 AM

I've seen many paintings in which the portrait exhibits not just the usual gradations of skin tone - local color, cast shadow, turning edge, etc. - but also dabs of colors not generally associated with flesh tones. Portraits by Howard Sanden and Harley Brown immediately come to mind. The flesh appears to 'vibrate' with the addition of values of blue, purple, or green. It's a gorgeous 'painterly' look that escapes me completely when I look at a model and try to discern these colors, or even where these colors might safely be used in this manner even if I didn't actually see them. What I'm talking about isn't just the modulation of cooler colors to describe shadows, form, etc. But rather an often high-chroma passage of color not generally thought of as a flesh tone.

I've purchased, read, and worked thru books by Howard Sanden, Harley Brown, and Helen Van Wyk whose paintings exhibit this effect to one degree or another. But I still don't have a full understanding of how to actually 'see' and interpret these hues. When I look at a head I just don't see the greens, violets or reds nor where they could be used to create this fresh, 'alive' look. I have not yet found a resource that shows a reader the actual mechanics of where and how these colors are best applied. The Sanden and Brown texts contained beautiful examples of this style and there were explainations or tips on the use of these colors, but there was nothing for the slightly dense/slow folks such as myself that need a little more hand-holding to get the ball rolling. The Faragasso book talks about 'vibrating' colors and I've worked thru this book many times. But he says nothing about 'seeing' and applying them to a model. It's as if this is something most people can do automatically and since I'm still having trouble describing form in general, I was beginning to wonder if my eyeballs were properly calibrated.

Is anyone aware of a book, video, website that more specifically addresses this method/style of painting? Something along the lines of "... look in this area of the head (with a graphic) for the possibility of a hi-chroma passage to enliven the painting ..."

Thanks for any help at all.

Minh Thong

11-24-2003, 11:53 AM	#1
Minh Thong Associate Member Joined: Feb 2002 Location: Greensboro, NC Posts: 114	Painting more 'painterly'; learning to see colors in the subject? I've seen many paintings in which the portrait exhibits not just the usual gradations of skin tone - local color, cast shadow, turning edge, etc. - but also dabs of colors not generally associated with flesh tones. Portraits by Howard Sanden and Harley Brown immediately come to mind. The flesh appears to 'vibrate' with the addition of values of blue, purple, or green. It's a gorgeous 'painterly' look that escapes me completely when I look at a model and try to discern these colors, or even where these colors might safely be used in this manner even if I didn't actually see them. What I'm talking about isn't just the modulation of cooler colors to describe shadows, form, etc. But rather an often high-chroma passage of color not generally thought of as a flesh tone. I've purchased, read, and worked thru books by Howard Sanden, Harley Brown, and Helen Van Wyk whose paintings exhibit this effect to one degree or another. But I still don't have a full understanding of how to actually 'see' and interpret these hues. When I look at a head I just don't see the greens, violets or reds nor where they could be used to create this fresh, 'alive' look. I have not yet found a resource that shows a reader the actual mechanics of where and how these colors are best applied. The Sanden and Brown texts contained beautiful examples of this style and there were explainations or tips on the use of these colors, but there was nothing for the slightly dense/slow folks such as myself that need a little more hand-holding to get the ball rolling. The Faragasso book talks about 'vibrating' colors and I've worked thru this book many times. But he says nothing about 'seeing' and applying them to a model. It's as if this is something most people can do automatically and since I'm still having trouble describing form in general, I was beginning to wonder if my eyeballs were properly calibrated. Is anyone aware of a book, video, website that more specifically addresses this method/style of painting? Something along the lines of "... look in this area of the head (with a graphic) for the possibility of a hi-chroma passage to enliven the painting ..." Thanks for any help at all. Minh Thong