PLEIN AIR ARTISTS
Bernard FallonSupply List: Nov 09
Working outside means you have to carry the minimum amount of equipment, so bring along small tubes of paint. Oil and acrylic artists should bring a large tube of white, which is used generously. Bring a hat and painting umbrella if possible. Any of the following media are acceptable for this workshop: acrylics, oils, pastels, watercolor, colored pencil. Please bring portable or tabletop easels and plenty of supports (watercolor paper, canvas panels, etc). Test the portability and consider a small cart, or better – a backpack.
Oils: please use odorless mineral spirits (OMS) and big filbert brushes 12,10,8, 6 etc. Painting mediums and driers are not necessary. Water based oils are excellent, too.
Acrylics: bring a small spray mister to inhibit rapid drying. Large water container if painting thinly.
Watercolors: Heavy watercolor paper is recommended to prevent warping problems. Big watercontainer (such as a cut away plastic gallon milk or juice container. Big brushes (consider Japanese Sumi-e and other Oriental brushes), small painting sponge, tooth brush for splattering. Bring a tube of Chinese White if you want to stretch your technique.
Pastels: Use grey or dark illustration card. Try pastel sandpaper. Also consider OMS with oil pastels. Nu-Pastels are very good for drawing on ordinary paper, but are very hard. Softer pastels are delightful to use in layers or as blocks of colors. Try to bring as many as possible.
Palettes: The bigger the better! Bring 2 if you like.
Supports: canvas, canvas panels, heavy watercolor paper, paper, pastel sandpaper.
Brushes: watercolor brushes tend to be sable, oils tend to be bristle, acrylics tend to be synthetic. However there are many variations. Big brushes (1 inch minimum) are very important. We will discuss the various shapes (round, flat, filbert, etc) at the first meeting. I would recommend oil painters use number 2,4,6,8,10,12 filbert brushes (two of each if possible). Also bring round brushes to draw your images.
Paper towels: everyone will need these! Plastic bags: for the used paper towels.
Colors: Start with primary or basic colors. Color manufacturers use a myriad of names that are sometimes just not scientific nor seem rational any more. Many groups of colors are made from the same pigment: it’s just the amount of filler or white that is different.
Basic colors: white, yellow ochre. cadmium yellow medium, lemon yellow. cadmium orange, cadmium red light, alizarin or quinacridone rose, ultramarine, pthalocyanide blue, pthalocyanide green. All the pigments in a tube of paint are codified and printed on the outside of the tube. So please read these and become familiar with their meaning. There is another aspect to colors that I recommend you utilize; all colors have a relative warm and cool so use these on your palette. For example: a warm blue is French Ultramarine, while a cool blue is Pthalo Blue. Lighter versions of these are (warm) Cobalt Blue and (cool) Cerulean Blue. The word “hue” means the pigment is not real, it is a cheaper substitute. If you purchase carefully you wont buy the same color pigments twice. An example: warm blues Ultramarine are coded PB 29 and Cobalt blue; PB 28. Cold blues are Pthalo Blue: PB 15 and Cerulean: PB36.
However if you look at a variety of paint colors you will find these pure pigments mixed into variations of the word “blue”. PB 15 mixed with PB 36 is sold as Pthalo Turquoise. Manganese Blue hue is basically filler white and PB 15. It is better to have pure colors with which you can make a complete range of tones and harmonies. Look online for more information on pigment content.