any acrylic artsit here, [abstract especially]

[Guest]

I need a good beginers book on color. My brain doesn't work in color anymore.

 

[martx-5]

I haven't painted in a couple of years. I initially worked in oils, but got tired of the stink and the mess, so I went on to watercolors. Much easier medium to stop and come back to if need be, and cleanup is also much easier.

Anyway, you best bet would be to just go to your local library or book store and browse through. I know that colors in oil react so much differently then in watercolor, even if they have the same name. So, you'd be best to find a book catering to mostly acrylic, although acrylic color probably reacts closer to oils.

Theoretically, you should be able to produce any color from just the three primary colors...red, blue and yellow. But, you need the colors to be pretty pure. For example, cobalt blue is a much purer blue then ultramarine (which has a red tinge), or thalo blue (which has a greenish tinge). At least that's the way they appear in watercolors. I've done paintings using just the three primarys, and it is a good way to see how colors mix.

I read many books on watercolor and color mixing, and it is good to get you started, as there will always be good hints that will shorten the learning curve, but there is no substitute for a lot of trial and error. After awhile (it took me a couple of years), color mixing will become almost intuitive with very little thought required. You'll also find that your palette will shrink. What will remain is a core of trusted colors that can and will always give you what you want, with all the other nifty colors that you bought winding up in the trash.

Boy, I need to get back to painting. I loved doing it, but other stuff interfered and ate up my time. Now I've got that time again. You've inspired me to clean out what we used to call the paint room and go buy some paper and new paint.

 

[Bayless]

Here is an acrylic painting, not exactly abstract but not quite realistic either. Please excuse the flash glare. Acrylics dry darker. Yes, RGB has been the standard practice but to be different, I'll suggest a book with a slightly different approach to color. "Color Theory Made Easy" by Jim Ames, ISBN 0-8230-0754-5. He suggests the cyan, magenta, yellow that printers use and gives good clean colors to use. I can't say that I have switched but it certainly does work for printers. But get a book of some kind that does give actual colors for mixing. As Art suggested, using the wrong pure colors will tend to gray everything so you can't get clean or vibrant colors.

 

[Guest]

Can't wait to see your next piece Art.


I love that sailboat painting. Whern did you do it? It has a late 60's vibe to it that I love.

Thanks guys. I tried an "experiement last night that looked like it was made in Studio 24.

 

[Guest]

 

[Bayless]

Thanks Billy. You're not far off. It was either '71 or '72. Here's another one about that same time, actually my first attempt at acrylics. It predicts the '72 America's Cup races.

 

[Guest]

Thanks Billy. You're not far off. It was either '71 or '72. .

I figured with the hull design and the colors.

Still painting?

 

[AngliaGT]

Billy,

You're an artsit?Never met one of those.

- Doug

 

[Guest]

Billy,

You're an artsit?Never met one of those.

- Doug

I'm a guy who makes things for sale, dunno about the artsit part but that's what this guy says: https://www.georgedunbar.com/essay.htm

 

[Guest]

Billy,

You're an artsit?

- Doug

Ya know, iff'un I was, I wouldn't need a good book on color. :highly_amused: