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All about Colours! (1 Viewer)

EliS

EliS

Well-known member
I searched through the whole Wildlife Art -forum and couldn't find a thread dedicated colo(u)rs, so here's one.

I'll start off with some questions:

I've read somewhere that Eric Ennion's used a limited amount of colors. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find any further information on this. Which colors did he use?

Also, I'm planning on getting myself some GOOD watercolors (enough with "school quality watercolors"). Unfortunately, they are expensive (for a student who's saving for a scope). So, I think I'm going with as few colors as I can for starters. So. Which colors to get, and with how few colors can I survive for a month without going crazy? (No need for brilliant greens, by the way, fall is getting on here.)

Elina
 
Last edited:
EliS said:
I searched through the whole Wildlife Art -forum and couldn't find a thread dedicated colo(u)rs, so here's one.

I'll start off with some questions:

I've read somewhere that Eric Ennion's used a limited amount of colors. Unfortunately I haven't been able to find any further information on this. Which colors did he use?

...

Elina
Click to expand...


Oooh- Ennion.. I'm lucky enough to have spent time in the company of the great man when I was an irritating little brat in the 1970s. He did indeed use a very limited range- one of my many happy memories is of his wife teasing him about having to use a pre-mixed colour to get the rich orange on Harlequin Duck's flank..but that was an exception.

Needless to say I can't remember the famous five or so colours he used, but Tim or Alan if on line will. It was something like:

- alizarin crimson

- a blue

- ?burnt sienna

- ?

- his beloved chinese white.

Then his technique would be to apply various purpley washes, with other colours and the white over the top. Almost always on coloured paper, to allow the chinese white to do its work (like our man Jomo does it..). His favourite paper was the rough side of a brown envelope- another happy memory would be sitting in his studio, tearing up a pile for him from that day's post. Well before recycling was in fashion!
 
Ooooh, lucky you!!! And that color selection sounds promisingly limited, I think I just might be following in Ennion's footsteps.

Must have been some sturdy envelopes those days to take that watercolor so well... I've always wondered where he got that beautiful brownish paper.

Elina
 
Would the color combination be: alizarin crimson, cobolt blue, yellow ochre, burnt sienna? I found a post by Tim somewhere saying these colors together with Ennion's name: though it was not clear if this combo was the one used by Ennion. Tim?

Realized I might be visiting the art store tomorrow when leaving for Lapland, if I have time, or on Wednesday on my way back (if I have time, ha!). So any tips on which watercolor colors to get would be really appreciated (and I still have to keep it down to as few as possible, 5-7, the less, the better)! Chinese white is on the list.

Elina
 
EliS said:
Would the color combination be: alizarin crimson, cobolt blue, yellow ochre, burnt sienna? I found a post by Tim somewhere saying these colors together with Ennion's name: though it was not clear if this combo was the one used by Ennion. Tim?

Realized I might be visiting the art store tomorrow when leaving for Lapland, if I have time, or on Wednesday on my way back (if I have time, ha!). So any tips on which watercolor colors to get would be really appreciated (and I still have to keep it down to as few as possible, 5-7, the less, the better)! Chinese white is on the list.

Elina
Click to expand...

I think you are right- I nearly said cobalt for the blue when I posted; and the missing one had to be a yellow..for him to mix his greens.

Should you be following his method

1. good luck!

2. remember that he relied a lot on his pencil lines for detail and sharpness, so once he had finsihed painting a picture, he would go back over it reinstating and even adding to the pencil work.
 
Alizarin crimson!!!

A lesson about buying colors: always write down on a piece of paper what colors you are going to get. Never trust your memory. Write it down.

And I spent 10 minutes at the store trying to remember if it was supposed to be Cadmium or Carmine red.... Yet it was Alizarin. Ha... Oh well... At least it's a red. It can't be THAT wrong.

Elina
 
cobalt blue and light red were definites in his palette (and very good choices). Whichever colours you choose, you're right to keep them limited, that way you get to know their capabilities well.
 
Black?

How do you get black? I've been playing with b-sienna and cobolt and found a splendid array of browns and grayish browns, but nothing close to black. So: should I get myself a black...or should I get myself some color which I can mix to cobolt and get black? (Burnt umbre?)

And: white? Is the difference between zinc white and chinese white that huge? Tried to read online about the colors and now I'm willing to leave at leas titanium white out. The problem is: do I want to try searching for chinese white, or do I just go with zinc? (I do intend to try painting on tinted paper so the white would certainly help.)

Not happy with carmine red - cannot figure out a single place where it would exist in nature (and don't live in the tropics where there are all possible colors), and when mixed with blue the purples just don't hit me as "true", so I'll be getting back to the art store to get the alizarin...

Elina
 
EliS said:
Black?

How do you get black? I've been playing with b-sienna and cobolt and found a splendid array of browns and grayish browns, but nothing close to black. So: should I get myself a black...or should I get myself some color which I can mix to cobolt and get black? (Burnt umbre?)

And: white? Is the difference between zinc white and chinese white that huge? Tried to read online about the colors and now I'm willing to leave at leas titanium white out. The problem is: do I want to try searching for chinese white, or do I just go with zinc? (I do intend to try painting on tinted paper so the white would certainly help.)

Not happy with carmine red - cannot figure out a single place where it would exist in nature (and don't live in the tropics where there are all possible colors), and when mixed with blue the purples just don't hit me as "true", so I'll be getting back to the art store to get the alizarin...

Elina
Click to expand...

If we are sticking with Ennion way of doing things as per your original question, then part of the answer is that you will find little or no black in his paintings- for dark areas, he usually used a deep purpley colour, maybe with some brown washed over the top rather than mixed in. Then he relied on the human eye/brain to see it as black.

One exception is that when he wanted a little area of intense black (like a bird's eye) he might use the pencil over the top. So his originals are like holographs- they look different depending on the angle you look at them and whether the pencil is shining grey in the light, or is shaded and so looking true black.
 
A favourite mix of mine for black is mixing french ultramarine and burnt sienna, then sometimes I use black itself as a colour. As Ed pointed out, you don't really need to have a black as the eye can read the darkest tones as black. You'll probably find that you will end up getting a lot more colours than you use, the trick is to decide which few you need in each painting, limit yourself to 3 or 4 colours out of a selection of say 12.
 
I use ultramarine, burnt umber and a touch of dioxazine purple. I also use quite a lot of paynes grey in my paintings as it tends to take the acrylic zing out of the colours and make them look a bit more natural.

Mike
 
Black! No don't buy one, please. Depends what 'black' you want to use, really. For a very deep black mix sepia and prussian blue - a lively, intense tone, indeed. For a somewhat spritely black (as suggested above) head for the purplish end - use ultramarine and burnt sienna. The best dark-tone shadow I've come across recently is to mix emerald (or similar) with alizarin crimson. In various measures gives a whole range of colours and temperatures (particularly good for dark areas of seascapes!).
Back to Ennion. Ed/Nick - didn't he used to just sketch with cobolt and alizarin (or burnt sienna)? - Once again, a huge range of tone and temperature.
Chinese white is nice to mix into colours for a different (opaque) qualities but in the field i tend to have a tube of permanent white gouache to slap on when and where.
 
Thanks all!!! Sounds like another trip to the art store.

I promise, I won't get a black. I was hoping that someone would say there's no point in getting it, since it's possible to get nice blacks from other colors. Well, the options seem to be "endless" - from the dark purples to emerald+alizarin.

Everybody mentioned ultramarine, I'll get at least that one. Besides I'll need another blue since there's the problem with the cobolt one I've got (the pigment isn't very rich).

I think I'm going to assemble an "Ennion mix" for field. Burnt sienna, yellow ochre, a red, a blue and a white. And then I'll have more colors at home to choose from when wanting to change the color scheme a bit.

Elina
 
timwootton said:
Back to Ennion. Ed/Nick - didn't he used to just sketch with cobolt and alizarin (or burnt sienna)? - Once again, a huge range of tone and temperature.
Click to expand...

Yup- done in two stages.

First those three [cobolt and alizarin + burnt sienna)] mixed together on a plate for the shadows and undertones. More of the blue and the red- less of the brown.

Then second, when the the resulting purpley washed drawing was dryish or drying, he would add the "colour" over the top (yellows greens oranges etc. mixed from the above plus the yellow) + some licks of white where applicable.

So he would always say that he wasn't a pure and true watercolourist, because he put wet paint over dry rather than doing it all in one watery sploosh and because he cheated by overpainting with white...
 
going to put the cat among the pigeons and say that black is part of my 'must have' list nowadays - though it does depend on what I'm painting. Pure black does deaden the colour, but sometimes it's the feel you want to go for. Saying that, I wouldn't recommend black for most pictures, it's just something I like to use now and again.
 
nickderry said:
going to put the cat among the pigeons and say that black is part of my 'must have' list nowadays - though it does depend on what I'm painting. Pure black does deaden the colour, but sometimes it's the feel you want to go for. Saying that, I wouldn't recommend black for most pictures, it's just something I like to use now and again.
Click to expand...
No-one's going to be taking you to task over colour use, Nick ;)
 
While you're putting together your field colours, Elina, here' a link to Debby Kaspari's self-assembled field kit (which I use myself, 'cept my watercolour tin is a store-bought W&N set that bursts a little shower of watercolour pans every time I wrench it open). The blog itself is an absolute delight, too (and very often wickedly funny):

http://drawingthemotmot.wordpress.com/2008/03/13/watercolor-sketch-kit-revealed/

I bought my waterbrush ages ago (back when Woody first raved about his), but didn't start using it until a few weeks ago. AWESOME field tool, never realized just how often I recharge my brush with water until I didn't have to do it anymore!
 
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