Paxton vs. cads and shadow help please!

[Janel Maples]

All I can say is attend a Marvin Mattelson workshop. With the information he gives about how to use his palette, your questions about "what color is that and how do I get it?" will be answered and you will understand why and how you got it.

Words can not express how happy I am that I studied with him.

Good luck.

Janel

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Hi Janel,

Unfortunately that's easier said than done. I live in Houston and have two young children at home so it's hard for me to leave for a week! I did try to get to his July 26th workshop in NYC but the dormitory was full which meant I would have been taking the subway to and from the class to a hotel somewhere (and the school had NO recommendations at all about where to stay), the plane ticket was expensive and my dad ended up in the hospital that week so I really needed to be here. Had I been there I would have had to leave in the middle of the workshop.

I have heard so many great things about Marvin's workshop, that's why I tried to make arrangements to go. There is still hope for next summer though. It would just be easier to get away when the kids are in school during the school year, but he doesn't teach his week long workshops during the school year, he's busy teaching his regular classes.

I certainly don't mean to whine but I need to get this figured out, even if I am able to get to one of his classes in the summer of 2005 that's still a year away.

Thanks,

Joan

[Renee Price]

I have studied with Marvin and, with my partner Denise Hall, organized Marvin

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Renee,

Thank you so much, I am beginning to understand more. This whole thing about mixing different values of EACH color is new to me. I have studied a lot of posts by Marvin about Paxton's palette and even ordered all the colors mailorder from the Italian Art Supply place that he recommended. So, I have all the colors.

I recently viewed Daniel Greene's video and he does something that sounds similar, mixing a number of values in each color. As I said, this is new to me. I understood that Marvin mixed his neutrals in all the values.

Originally Posted by Renee Price

. . . a row of neutrals in values 9-1

I will have to find the post that tells me exactly what the neutral is. I remember there was yellow ochre in it ( a yellow) to neutralize the blue in the black. Can't remember exactly . . .

Originally Posted by Renee Price

When mixing colors, remember to work up and down within the values and never across. For example, never mix a value 6 yellow ochre with a value 5 cool red and always use a different brush for each value. Mixing across the values or using the same brush for the different values can result in mud.

Renee, are you saying that when you decide to paint, say, a cheek in a value 3, then you go to your premixed colors as you described them and mix together some of this color in value 3, then a little of that color in value 3, until you get the right color? I understand not mixing in a little of a value 2, for example, with this "3" mixture. Am I getting this right? Doesn't that mean you have to have a pretty huge palette surface? Daniel Greene's is huge, he had is specially made.

Originally Posted by Renee Price

Shadows on the flesh are not just brown or grey. They vary in value and color based on planes of the face, local color and value, temp of light, and surrounding clothing. Don't limit yourself to one value and one color.

Thank you for this thought, it's good for me to remember that a shadow isn't just one color. Although . . . the down side here is that I can hardly figure out ONE good color to make a shadow and now you're telling me to find lots of good shadow colors.

Seriously though, I'll try and be more open minded when it comes to "seeing" the colors in the shadows.

Thank you very much,

Joan

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Hi Renee,

Just out of curiousity, do you add a little ultramarine to get a cool flesh tone? I reviewed my notes on Paxton palette and ultramarine wasn't included in "complexion colors".

But this isn't the main point. It's all that mixing before hand that I'm trying to get my mind around. Is all the mixing done as a sort of fail safe way of staying within value ranges? Or is there some other reason? When I paint I first establish the values in either burnt sienna and a turp or raw umber and white. That's because I'm still learning and I think that's a good way to safely get my values correct. Is this the same thinking behind all the premixing and labeling the values?

thanks,

Joan

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Now that I just asked about adding blue to cool a flesh tone, I have found this thread started by Marvin called "warm and cool defined". This certainly answers my question about adding blue to cool a skin tone! Here is the link for anyone who may be following tihs thread and is interested:

http://forum.portraitartist.com/show...=values+paxton

Joan

[Leslie Bohoss]

Hi Joan,
A very interesting thread, it helps me a lot.

http://www.karinwells.com/technical2.htm

Karen gives a lot of important tips, in a nutshell. Interesting too: the memoirs of Vige

[Renee Price]

Hi Joan,

Sorry about that! You asked for one good shadow color and I handed you a bunch. There are no absolute right or wrong ways to paint; everybody has their own way. There are several phenomenal portrait artists in the world today and each one uses what works for him or her. Just because something works for one person doesn

[Joan Breckwoldt]

Originally Posted by Leslie Bohoss

Karen gives a lot of important tips, in a nutshell.

Hi Leslie,

Thanks for Karin's website. Believe me, I am very familiar with her homepage and have printed out everything on it. I'm not kidding. Plus, I think I've printed out most of her posts. Thank you Karin!

Joan

[Joan Breckwoldt]

[QUOTE=Renee Price] A color is only warm or cool in relation to the colors around them. A color that is