Trihue Watercolor, Week 6

The sixth sessions of the Trihue Watercolor class for Winter 2018 were held on Wednesday, February 21 and Sunday, March 11. The white light homework was critiqued. The new topic for this week is colored light. Dick gave a demo of colored light shining on white paper and on an arrangement of different colors and values. Colored light and shadow work to unify a scene, because all colors are affected equally. Shadow colors are the complement of the light color, plus black (because all light contains a lot of white light) and any ambient light (outside, the blue of the sky). Sunset provides an opportunity to observe this phenomenon, with amber light and rich blue-green shadows. For more detail, be sure to read the post linked to in the “Other resources” section.

White spotlight

Trihue Watercolor, Week 5

The fifth sessions of the Trihue Watercolor class for Winter 2018 were held on Wednesday, February 14 and Sunday, March 4. The film and veil homework was critiqued. The new topic is white light and shadow. You need shade to create the illusion of light. In white light, a cast shadow is a gray (transparent black) film. To paint shadows in watercolor, paint the local colors first, then apply the shadow wash over them. Or, since watercolors are transparent, lay down the shadows first and paint the local colors over.

Trihue Watercolor, Week 4

The fourth sessions of the Trihue Watercolor class for Winter 2018 were held on Wednesday, February 7 and Sunday, February 25. We critiqued the edges and gradations homework assignments. Transparency illusions, in the form of films and veils, were the new topic for the week. Dick showed transparency illusions from Albers’ Interaction of Color, pointing out ones that succeed, and some that fail because they are inconsistent with the actual phenomenon. Painting film illusions in watercolor is easy; painting veil illusions requires a painting strategy.

Color Relationships 2, Fall 2016 week 8

The eighth and final session of the Color Relationships 2 class for Fall 2016 was held on Wednesday, October 19. The majority of class time focused on the critique of the final assignment, Freedom!, which, as the title suggests, had a wide range of interpretation. Dick shared some of his personal thoughts on education and continual learning; we went over a brief end-of-class test; and we watched a short video to finish off the series. See the full post for photos and class materials.

Color Relationships 2, Fall 2016 week 4

The fourth session of the Color Relationships 2 class for Fall 2016 was held on Wednesday, September 21. We critiqued the homework (Volume Color), addressed common problems that students encountered, and discussed again the benefits of using volume color in artwork. The class was introduced to white light and shadows, and given a new homework assignment, Create the illusion of white light.

Color Relationships 2, Fall 2016 week 3

The third session of the Color Relationships 2 class for Fall 2016 was held on Wednesday, September 14. We critiqued the last assignment, (Create the illusion of a veil), and Dick discussed some recent revelations he has had concerning the tricky nature of a veil (sometimes it acts like a false film). The class tackled a new team challenge, discussed the features of atmospheric and volume color, and also heard from Dick on the four ways to show depth through visual clues. See the whole post for more info, class photos, and additional materials.

Color Relationships 2, Fall 2016 week 1

The first session of the Color Relationships 2 class for Fall 2016 was held on Wednesday, August 31. A group of 10 students met to continue their ongoing study of color, its appearance in the visual world, and how to re-create these phenomena through an understanding of color relationships. In this first session, the class went through a review of Color 1 lessons, a study of films and how they modify other colors, and discussed their first assignment. Please see the full post for class materials, including videos and slide presentations.

Color Relationships 2, 2015 week 2

The second session of the Color Relationships class for Winter 2015 was held on Friday, January 16. We critiqued the solutions to the film illusion assignment (Create the illusion of a colored film over two or more colors), and had an introduction to veils. The new homework assignment is to create the illusion of one or more veils over a set of two or more colors, incorporating an actual veil (a piece of tracing paper or the like) into the study. Films and veils are two visual phenomena that help to unify and create emotion in a piece, intriguing the viewer and inviting their participation.