ArtistsNetwork.com 69A SPACE FOR ART
Balmer’s studio space allows him to work large,
at the easel and even on the floor. He keeps
black-and-white and color sketches—done in
pastel—pinned to the studio wall to keep the
inspiration humming.
Over a Red River
oil on wood panel,
30x80
THINKING COLOR
Once his sketch is roughed out and etched in, Balmer again
paints over the entire surface with black house paint, so
the lines will be black in the finished painting. Before he
starts with his oil paints, he spends time working up a gen-
eral color scheme and mixing colors for the entire painting
on a 2x4-foot sheet of ¼-inch-thick glass, which allows him
lots of room to mix piles of paint.
Balmer’s color schemes are intuitive. They come from
remembering or seeing a good color combination or by mix-
ing colors randomly on the palette. He likes pairing a neutral
tone with one bright color that pops. Once he decides on
the general predominant color, or colors, he then mixes the
shadow and highlight colors on the palette. He often tones
down the tube colors. To get the red he likes, for example,
he adds yellow ochre, Indian yellow and titanium white to
cadmium red. Once everything is mixed, Balmer will pull
to the side any colors that don’t seem to fit, and when he’s
done for the day he scoops up the paint neatly and places
the piles on a separate piece of glass, which he stores in
a freezer until his next painting session. This keeps his
paints mixed and wet for weeks at a time.