LIMITED PALETTE PAINTING
“I think of a limited palette as being like a hand that one is dealt. The challenge is to make something happen with a restriction of possibilities.” — Susan Lichtman
1. Take a white cloth napkin.
2. Make a painting of it.
The painting will contain only the napkin and maybe a bit of the table it rests on, or the wall it hangs on. Place the napkin on a neutral-colored surface or wall, no bright colors. Grayish, putty-colored, brownish, something like that.
You can light it strongly or use diffused light to suit your preference for
high-contrast or low-contrast situations.
high-contrast or low-contrast situations.
Be absolutely true to the values in your setup as it is lit. Do not make your painting more contrast-y or less contrast-y than the setup.
Composition: Make the napkin touch three sides of the edge of the canvas. Do not crop any of the napkin; include the whole thing.
Possibilities:
Tie it in a knot
Wrap something in it
Throw it up in the air and let it land
Pin it on a clothes line
Tie a string around it and pin the string to the wall
Make an animal out of it
Use your imagination
Consider using straight lines to describe curved forms.
Look at this painting by Cezanne. Look at the way he handles the folds of the fabric on the left side of the painting, then look at the way he handles the folds on the right side.
Which is more effective?
Palette: This assignment calls for a restricted palette.
Use ONLY three primary colors plus white — a red, a yellow and a blue.
If you want to get fancy, you can use two of each primary.
For example: Reds — cadmium scarlet and alizarin crimson; Blues — ultramarine blue and cobalt blue; Yellows — Indian yellow and cadmium yellow.
No blacks, no browns. No earth colors.
Do not make the painting colorful. Do not exaggerate color, or make shadows purple or blue. Do no make the light areas yellow to convey light. Try to get absolute neutral grays and whites. If there is a trace of color in your grays, don’t play it up. Keep it as a trace.
Do not describe every nuance of every fold. Try to reduce the parts of the fabric to separate shapes of color and value. Do no blend the transitions between tones.
Objective: To describe the color and value of the napkin as accurately as possible using your three primaries and white, in the simplest possible terms.
Use these restrictions to make an inventive painting that excites you.
COPIES
Choose a painting you admire, find a reproduction. Make a copy. The goal is to analyze the painting, not reproduce it stroke for stroke. Think translation. Look at this album of copies by artists.
Look especially at the ones that are most different from the originals, the ones that are most simplified. Choose one or two qualities of the original that you want to understand better: shape, value range. Try a 40-stroke version.
FAVORITE FOOD
Pick one favorite food and make a painting of it. Pay attention to the lighting situation. Be inventive with composition. Make it interesting for yourself.
FAVORITE FOODS, GROUPED Make a painting of your favorite foods. If your favorite foods are olives, peanut butter and grapes, put them together in a way that makes you want to paint them. Make the setup surprising and inventive, through composition, cropping, space, color, juxtaposition.
HIGH-CONTRAST SITUATION
Set something up, or try a “found” subject: corner of a room, table in the aftermath of a meal, through a doorway or window. Whatever it is, light it strongly. Try to be as accurate as possible about the value relationships.
LOW-CONTRAST SITUATION
Any subject, dimly lit, or with diffuse light, so there are not strong lights or darks. Can be very colorful, but try to keep the values of your selected subject close. Describe accurately (in terms of values and color) what is before your eyes.
DEEP SPACE
Make a painting of space deeper than arm’s reach.
Consider making a painting of an entire room, as is, without arranging things. Try to find how things fit together, how the light affects the color and value relationships.
FAST PAINTINGS
Start with 3 small, same-sized canvases or panels:
1. Set a timer for 1 hour, complete one small painting.
2. In another painting session, set a timer for 30 minutes and complete another small painting (can be the same as first or entirely different).
3. Finally, on another day, set the timer for 15 minutes, complete a painting.
40-STROKE PAINTING
Any subject (self-portrait, still life, interior, landscape)
Do a painting using only 40 strokes. Count them. Stop after 40 strokes.
20-STROKE PAINTING
See above.
5-STROKE PAINTING
See above.
SUBJECTS AND COLORS YOU DISLIKE
Set up a still life of objects that are colors you don't like. Hate yellow? put some yellow objects in your still life.
Hate traditional still life subjects? Make a painting that uses them, but paint them in a way that excites you.
IN THE MANNER OF...
Make a painting in the style of an artist you admire. Your own subject, but employing a way of seeing and translating found in another artist's work.
APPLES
1. Take three apples. (or other object) Arrange them on a surface so they describe space. What are some of the tools at hand for implying or showing space?
• overlapping
• value contrast
• relative size
• edges (hard, soft, dissolved)
• lighting
2. Paint each apple in a different way. Paint one by reducing it to two hard-edged shapes of color. Paint another by describing every subtle change of light and form. Paint another using just one color (the predominant color) and outline.
In each case, be as true as you can to what is before your eyes, even when using just one color and an outline.
APPLES
1. Take three apples. (or other object) Arrange them on a surface so they describe space. What are some of the tools at hand for implying or showing space?
• overlapping
• value contrast
• relative size
• edges (hard, soft, dissolved)
• lighting
2. Paint each apple in a different way. Paint one by reducing it to two hard-edged shapes of color. Paint another by describing every subtle change of light and form. Paint another using just one color (the predominant color) and outline.
In each case, be as true as you can to what is before your eyes, even when using just one color and an outline.
