Magic and power of colours

Colours are everywhere. They have a far more significant impact on our psyche then most people think. As an artist I've not only learned to see them differently but also use them differently in order to achieve specific effects and express myself in my artworks. In this article I'll try to explain you the principles and share with you my understanding of the colour theory, share with you my experience of mixing shades from basic palette of primaries. Colour is the painters most powerful tool indeed. It lays in ability to excite, control space, create atmosphere, express emotions and represent the illusion of reality.

Theory of colour

White light, while passing through a raindrop, splits into the colours of the rainbow spectrum. This helps us to understand the principles of colour mixing. It is important to mention that red, yellow and blue are known as primary colours. They are also called pure colours which means that they cannot be produced mixing any other colours. The other group of three: orange, green and violet are usually called secondary colours because they can be produced by the even mixture of their two immediate primary neighbours.

Few words about canvas - my recommendation

Canvas is one the most sophisticated surfaces for oil and acrylic paintings mainly due to the way in which it responds to the brush. It is also rather simple and straightforward to prime and stretch it yourself once you take that challenge.

Since artists started using oil paints in the 15-th century, canvas holds a leading position as a surface to paint on, primarily to that very special filling of the response of stretched canvas to the brush. None of the other existing painting surfaces matches its springy spontaneity. Unlike other surfaces, the taut fabric gives a little with each dab of colour and as a result reach, resonant paint surface ideally suitable for oil and acrylic paintings. It is also important to mention that canvas painting are light and easily portable. Once painting is completed you can remove canvas from stretcher, roll it and store.

Canvas is usually produced from several types of fabrics and are categories into: flax canvas, linen canvas and a cheaper alternative of cotton canvas. However nowadays most of artists may forget about priming and stretching canvases themselves. A wide range of stretched and primed canvases are available from multiple vendors on the market. Usually pre-primed canvases stretched over lightweight wooden frames are offered in a wide range of standard sizes. They could be made out of linen or cotton duck and usually also contain a proportion of synthetic fibres to achieve the right texture and increase the durability. Some of those ready-to-go canvases have a fine grain texture and are good for detailed work, while the others are coarser so that the weave of the canvas might become visible even through the paint thus producing more rugged effect of your final painting.

Sample of oil on canvas covered-board

Iceberg by Nadya Temper

It is also worth of mentioning that there is another cheaper alternative to stretched and pre-primed canvases – canvas-covered boards. Rather popular among beginners due to a good tooth and are also available with a very fine or slightly coarser surfaces.

Please pay attention that most ready-to-paint canvases and canvas-covered boards are already primed with an acrylic ground, which makes them suitable for use with either acrylic or oil painting. While others are primed with an oil-based primer which limits their use to oil paints only! It is extremely important not to use acrylic paint on an oil primed canvas because the oily surface will eventually cause the the paints to peel and flake. Carefully read manufactures instruction and make sure you use right primed canvas.

I myself usually use acrylic-primed canvas-covered boards.

My Biography

Graduated from the College of Art and Music with further education to a medical degree I have always been mesmerized by oil paintings and drawings. Whilst studying to play the violin at the College of Art and Music I began to attend art classes where I was introduced to classic European paintings and sculptures for the first time. Inspired by the extraordinary variations in style and subjects I started to paint with oil. I have to say that the classic art still remains the main source of my inspiration.

Being encouraged by my parents I spent plenty of time at art galleries admiring the work of well known artists and sculptors. The paintings and drawings of the Renaissance and Baroque have become my favorite. The pastoral and mythological compositions still continue to be the main subjects of my admiration.

Sunset by Nadya Temper

I exhibited my artwork in a number of venues and I was rewarded a prize by The Young Talents Association. Most of my paintings I presented to a Children's Hospital Charity, aiding in the well being of children, thus using my artistic skill as well.

My mother, being a self-taught artist herself, not only helped me to express myself but most importantly gave me inspiration. Impressed with her amazing landscapes and portraits and the way she combined styles and created her own I started to experiment in creating my own style of painting.

My art work is a precise reflection of my inner world. I like to discover ways to create illusions of reality with color and light, giving attention to detail. On the whole, I am influenced by the beauty of the sky and reflections on water - these are the preferred subjects of my compositions.

Being inspired by great changes in my life I am launching a new collection of art work. Fine art has once again entered my life but this time with new inspiration.

Go to my Gallery

Brushes

In this short article I expressed my own opinion, shared my previous experience and gave few recommendations on 'How to select a proper brush'.

Every artist should build up a collection of various brushes so they will help achieve a wide range of exciting paint effects.

Artists' brushes come in a huge variety of shapes and sizes indeed. Each one of them corresponds to a particular purpose they were designed for. They could be made out of multiple different kinds of natural bristles or synthetic fibre. That is the reason that the difference in price between different types of bristle and brands can be considerable. Available choice is really wide. However, my own experience says that, the decision as to which to buy and use is a personal pursuit, solely depending on trial and error. From start, it would not be a bad idea to experiment with several different types of brushes at a time in order to get clearer understanding which to use.

Sizes: small and large

Almost all of types of brushes are available in a rather wide range of sizes. For artists' further convenience they are usually numbered. Though it is always worth to keep it in mind that different manufactures has a slightly different measuring system of their own. Which actually means that No.1 brush made by manufacturer A is not necessarily precisely of the same size made by the manufacturer B. Furthermore sizes of some of the flat brushes might be specified in the terms of the total bristle width, rather then numbers.

Types of brush

Type of brush basically corresponds to the specific kind of mark it produces. So it is important to choose a right type of brush in order to achieve desired effects. Though if you already have several basic brush types, they probably would be good enough to start with.

Round brushes

Round – is a brush with a rounded ferrule. This is widely used, general purpose type of brushes containing a full bristle head, which (please keep it in mind) might hold a lot of paint. But still, large rounds are pretty much useful for wide expanses of colour.

Flat brushes

This type of brushes has a flattened ferrule with a square-cut bristle head. Since wide bristles are very good for applying paint in short dubs and for laying ideally flat areas of colour. The narrow edge of the bristles is rather helpful for making thinner lines indeed.

Note that sometimes 'flat' with very short bristles is also called 'bright'.

Filbert brushes

Lay somewhere between 'flat' and 'round'. Usually filbert has a flattened ferrule with tapered bristles. This type of brush is widely used since it combines the functions of the other brush types.

Fan brushes

Nicely shaped fan brush, also called blender, should used primarily for smooth colour blending. However allows to achieve different effects especially with oil.

Oil painting brushes are usually made of natural bristle – hog's hair. However there are few excellent synthetic bashes available on the market now. Some of the synthetic brushes were specially developed to be used with acrylic paints while others perfectly suite oil and acrylic.

Taking care of your brushes

Since oil painting brushes are traditionally produced from a natural bristle – paint should never be allowed to dry on the brush, though even synthetic brushes are hard to clean once the paint dries. After each and every painting session, clean you brushes very carefully by first wiping the remaining colour with paper, then brushes used with oil paint should be rinsed in a white spirit or any other oil solvent or cleaning agent you use, wiped clean and washed in warm water with liquid soap. Rinse the brush well then shake it to dry water.

Acrylic brushes should only be washed using warm water and liquid soap. Since acrylic paint dries dramatically fast it would not be a bad idea to keep those brushes moist during your painting session. If it happened and you've let acrylic paint dry on the brush by any chance, do not panic, just soak the bristles overnight in spirits, this will soften the paint and then washed as usual.

Hope you found this helpful.

You can view my artworks online