Are monochrome paintings ok?

[Chris Saper]

Monochrome paintings are more than OK, they are gorgeous!

I have done several and here is my take: paintitngs done in black and white don't have the color shift that paintings done in earth colors experience. Bill Whitaker suggested that I try an approach where the painting is done in b/w, then later glazed with a sepia color.

A transparent oil monochrome painting in an earth color realliy has to be done all prima, so that you can lift out areas of paint to show the lighter canvas underneath, rather than having to add white, which will cool the underlying color. For me this works fine for Open studio, but I don't work quickly enough to make this approach work as a commission. I suppose one could use clove oil to retard the drying of the paint.

Gamblin says that its Chromatic Black is better than its Ivory Black to reduce color termperature shifts (the Ivory Black is very bluish).

I have tried lightening using Naples Yello light instead of white, but still could not control the color shifts. In my painting of Alicia, the color changes drove me crazy so I just decided to quit fighting them and ended up with painting with several variations of earth colors.

Spend some time looking at some of Richard Schmid's monochromes, and also Aaron Westerburg, whose monocrome is on the cover of Strokes of Genius (North Light Books, 2007)