58 artistApril 2016 http://www.painters-online.co.uk
A
rtists who had a great interest in the
‘darks’ in their paintings include
Leonardo da Vinci, who was
fascinated by the power of darkness and
created a system of shadows that played
a very important role in perspective.
Bonnard used the darks in a more
modern way with the flatness and pattern
in his paintings.
The darks or ‘chiaroscuro’, meaning the
contrast between dark and light, in a
painting are crucial to that painting’s
success. Here I will suggest various ways
to create darks and also how to check that
you have the correct dark.
This brings us back to tone. Mixing a
colour is one thing but getting the correct
tone is crucial. If I asked you to put down
some red paint in your picture we would
need to consider exactly which red you
might need.
To illustrate this simple point, please
look at the colour charts in Figure 1THE A-Z OF COLOUR
is for Dark
This month Julie Collinsexplores the best ways
to darken your colours
D
(below), which I have created using three
different reds: Winsor red, light red and
Indian red. You will notice that I have
gradually added a blue or a violet to each
to illustrate how to darken a red. The
reason for this is that using a blue or
violet will ensure that the colour remains
vibrant and colourful.
The most obvious way to darken colour
might be to add black, but black tends to
deaden colours and must be used
carefully. I will discuss the use of black
further on in the article.
You can try this exercise with other
colours and use various blues or violets to
darken or dull your colours. As in my
previous articles, I encourage you to make
similar colour charts, as this is the best
way to learn colour mixing. If you do this
often enough, these charts will become
embedded in your memory.
Figure 2 shows a very simple picture in
which the composition is divided inJulie Collins
studied painting at the University of
Reading and exhibits her work widely
throughout the UK. She has exhibited
with the Royal Institute of Painters in
Water Colours, Royal West of England
Academy, Royal Watercolour Society and
the ING Discerning Eye, and has received
numerous awards for her work. Julie is
author of several successful art books
and teaches MA, BA and Foundation
students painting and drawing, and is a
short course tutor at West Dean College,
Chichester and Art in Action, Oxford.
http://www.juliecollins.co.ukhorizontal tonal bands including medium,
light and dark tones (top right). In Figure
3 I have created a similar picture, but have
greatly reduced the contrast in tone. By
comparing the two pictures you can see
how Figure 3 is less successful and how
using your dark and light to create
contrast in tone is crucial to the success of
a painting.Figure 1
Winsor red + French ultramarine blueIndian red + French ultramarine blueLight red + French ultramarine blueWinsor red + Winsor blue (red shade)Indian red + Winsor blue (red shade)Light red + Winsor blue (red shade)