Leisure Painter - UK (2019-06)

12 JUNE 2019 http://www.painters-online.co.uk

A

s an artist who has worked with

a number of different media,

there are often certain colours

that stand out and have a profound

influence on my painting style. With

acrylics, one colour that has been a

favourite of mine for a number of

years is cobalt teal, manufactured by

Golden Artist Colors. Used as a pure

colour in small accents, it adds that little

extra punch to a piece of artwork.

I have used this pigment in a number

of paintings over the years and I am

always pleased with the contribution

it makes to my work, even nudging

me to create in a slightly different style.

It is unique in the sense that it works

well as an accent in paintings without

having to combine it with other colours.

When it is mixed with other pigments,

very pleasant secondary colours can

be achieved.

Golden produces a fantastic range

of colours within its acrylic range and

is innovative when it comes to

producing new colours. I have found

cobalt teal to be a particularly inspiring

heavy-body acrylic colour and hope

that you do, too.

Autumn colour

Symonds Yat(right) sits in a valley

surrounded by banks of trees. This

is a recent painting from a trip I made

last October to the stunning Wye Valley.

I wanted to use cobalt teal in as many

instances as possible, without the colour

losing its impact. Initially I drew the

subject using a 2mm round refillable

marker pen, filled with FW acrylic ink,

onto picture framer’s mountcard.

The strong black outlines could be

reduced subtly by the addition of

layers of opaque acrylic paint later.

I used only Golden Heavy-Body

Acrylics in the painting, although

there is no problem mixing your

favourite colour with other brands.

To create the backdrop of trees

I painted a number of them near the

buildings using a mix of cobalt teal

and primary yellow. Further up the

side of the valley I added yellow ochre

to create more subtle greens, and some

areas were interspersed with dabs of

light violet, burnt sienna and yellow

ochre to give a hint of approaching

autumn. Strokes of white and black

were used to detail the tree trunks.

The large tree on the left was painted

mainly with cobalt teal and Mars black,

with a few highlights of cobalt teal

mixed with yellow and white.

Some of the rooftops were painted

using cobalt teal and white, and I

finished other areas with permanent

violet dark mixed with white. For the

water I chose various colours from the

land, applying the paint thickly onto

the surface using a palette knife then

spreading and removing the colours

Part 1 Tim Fisherbegins a six-part series, discussing the merits of his favourite

colours – this month, add vibrant colour to your paintings with Golden’s cobalt teal

Colour choices

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

nHow to use unusual colours

in your paintings

nTry a heavy-body acrylic

painting process

Acrylic

tGedney Tulips, Golden Heavy-Body Acrylics on mountcard, 9x9in. (23x23cm)

Here I combined cobalt teal with white

(top left), which gives a colour that is very

useful when creating skies. Adding black

(top right) can result in a very subtle green-

grey. Combining with a yellow, such as

primary yellow (below far left), gives a

wide variety of pleasant greens. Adding

small amounts of yellow ochre (middle)

results in much more subtle green shades.

Adding light violet (left) modifies the

colour slightly to make it useful for

subjects, such as bluebell woods.

COLOUR MIXING WITH COBALT TEAL