Fresh off the Easel

"Gerbera Daisies: Harbingers of Spring"
12 x 12, Oil on Canvas
(c) Lesley Powell 2018

Is it possible that we have actually (finally!) experienced the last frost of the winter season? In most areas of the country, Spring arrived late this year, and been quite chilly. But that hasn't stopped me from expressing the enthusiasm of the season in my studio!

"Trio, Yellow"
12 x 12, Oil on Canvas
(c) Lesley Powell 2018

It all started with the Gerbera daisies. I have always regarded these flowers as true harbingers of spring, especially the yellow ones. Almost everybody finds the color yellow to be cheery and warm. After all, yellow has long been associated with the sun, with its bright and life-giving light. From a scientific point of view, it's also interesting to note that the

Pucker Power

"Single Lemon"
11 x 11, oil on linen
(c) Lesley Powell 2015
Available

I have recently been working on a series of paintings featuring lemons. You would think that painting a simple thing like a lemon would be a breeze. But you would be wrong! Seeing the correct color for the shadow side of a lemon is very hard for me. Is it greenish, or brownish, or reddish?? Or perhaps blueish, or violet-ish? Most of the time what I am seeing there is not a color that is very intense, so it is not instantly identifiable. At least not most of the time--of course, it depends on the other things nearby.

"Two Lemons"
8 x 12, oil on linen
(c) Lesley Powell 2015
Available

Once I have identified the color, there is the problem of mixing it. Again, hard to do when the color is so subtle. Every little dab of paint can change the mix by pushing it too far in one direction or the other. I was glad to know that I am not alone in this, when I heard Connie Hayes say

Curious Yellow, Part II

"Phat Burrito"
9 x 12, oil on linen
(c) Lesley Powell 2015
(Available)

I have been outdoors painting on location a couple of times recently--whenever I could catch a spring day in between the winter ones! Curiously, I was drawn both times to things that were a very bright yellow. You may know that the color of an object, as perceived by the human eye, depends on the wavelengths of the light it reflects. When light hits an object, the object absorbs some of the rays, and reflects the others. Yellow things absorb less light, and reflect more light, than things of other colors. The fact that yellow objects reflect so much light explains why they are very bright. In painting terms,

Curious Yellow

"Blue & Yellow"

6 x 8, (c) Lesley Powell 2013

I have written previously about the history of various pigments, including reds and blues. For the curious, it's  now time to turn to Yellows. Yellow reflects more light than any other color, which means that it is at its purest and most intense at a very high value.  No wonder it is so bright and feels so cheery. 

As I wrote with  respect to blues, I typically use one light yellow and one dark yellow on my palette. My light yellow of choice is Cadmium Yellow Light. As you can guess from the name, this pigment contains the mineral cadmium. About half the cadmium produced today is used in batteries. A small percentage goes into pigments such as these paints. Cadmium is toxic. Some years ago, Senator Daniel Moynihan introduced a bill to make cadmium pigments illegal, but it didn't pass (sigh of relief from many artists).

Cadmium pigments were first made in the 1820's, and became more widely available for artists' use in the mid 1840's. They were part of the revolution that changed the palette and helped give birth to Impressionism. In fact, Monet used Cadmium Yellow extensively. There is a wide range of cadmium yellows, but I prefer the light.

Indian Yellow "purree"



I don't use Indian Yellow, but while we are on yellows, the story is too good not to tell. It is widely believed that Indian Yellow was originally made in rural India, from cow's urine. The cows were force fed almost exclusively on mango leaves, then their urine was collected and dried, yielding hard yellow balls of the raw pigment, called "purree". (Photo above). The resulting color was a warm, transparent glazing yellow. The old practice was eventually outlawed because of the cruelty to the animals. Winsor & Newton introduced an effective, artificially manufactured Indian Yellow in 1996. Aren't we glad we live in the modern age??

My "dark yellow" of choice is Raw Umber...stay tuned for a future post, because the umbers are worthy of a column all their own.