Color Unity Studies (Part 2)

Due April 24

Assignment 12: Anomaly and Bridge Tones

• 12A (pg 109)
• Create a tightly unified color field and make two exact copies.
• (This should give you three identical paintings.)
• Consider:
• A complementary scheme with transitional colors
• Monochromatic colors
• Analogous colors
• Keep all colors closely related in at least 2 of the 3 parts of color (hue, value, and/or saturation).
• Set aside one version and use the remaining two versions for 12B and 12C.
• 12B (pg 109)
• In each of the remaining versions, and add a single color that is an anomaly in hue, value, or saturation, or a combination of the three.
• Set aside one of these version and use the remaining version for 12C.
• 12C (pg 109)
• In the final version, change two of the original colors to create bridge tones that will soften the starkness of the anomaly.

Color Unity Studies (Part 1)

Due April 24

Assignment 9: Triadic Dot Study

• 9A (pg 99)
• Choose a primary palette consisting of a particular triad of red, yellow, blue, and white (including the earthtone primary triad if you would like).
• Use a 9”x9” square of Bristol board
• Follow the directions outlined on page 99.

• 9B (pg 98)
• Create a composition based on your color triadic dot study.
• Use only 4-6 colors taken from your study.
• Both composition examples below use only colors from the example study below.

• 9C (pg 100)
• Create two identical compositions using only 4-6 colors.
• In the first one, use a palette derived from a primary triad of your choice and white.
• In the second one, use a palette derived from the earthtone primary triad and white.

Composition using colors mixed from White, Ultramarine Blue, Rose Madder, and Golden Yellow.

Composition using colors mixed from White, Payne's Gray, Burnt Sienna, and Yellow Ochre.

Assignment 10: The Altered Palette

• 10A (pg 101)
• Create a design painted in flat colors from a palette of 3-5 colors (plus white) chosen at random.  Use the color directly from the palette without mixing any new tones.
• 10B (pg 101)
• Now mix a small but perceptible amount of an admixture color into each of the colors on the palette and re-create the design.
• Earth tones are usually used for this, but it can be any color you prefer.
• Individual colors will require more or less of the admixture to unify the colors without completely losing the hue and value qualities of the original colors.

Assignment 11: Two-Color Palette Dot Study

• 11A (pg 104)
• Follow the directions given on page 104.

• 11B (pg 105)
• Create two identical compositions using only 4-6 colors.
• In the first one, use a palette of colors from your first two-color study.
• In the second one, use a palette of colors from your second two-color study.

Color Applications Studies (Part 2)

Due March 27

Assignment 7: Transparency Studies

• 7A (pg 87)
• Create a series of crosses demonstrating transparencies.
• 6 demonstrating median transparency
• 6 demonstrating dark transparency
• Make each square  of each cross no smaller than ¾” x ¾”.

• 7B (pg 87)
• Compose a design that contains several incidents of each kind of transparency.
• Although you may approach composition freely, strive for readability in color (avoid brushwork that will allow paper to show through) and shape description (keep edges of shape crisp.
• For examples look at figures 5.36 and 5.37 on page 87.

Assignment 8: Retinal Studies

• 8A (pg 91)
• Paint a series of three retinal landscape studies.
• You can crop to approximately 7”x9” for each.
• Create a viewfinder with the same aspect ratio (masking tape on a window or a rectangle cut out of the center of cardboard).  The viewfinder will frame the scene and reveal shapes in the visual field not only in relationship to each other, but to the edges of the picture plane.
• Block in the large shapes first, covering the entire picture plane before adding in additional tones and details.
• Try to render colors precisely as you see them, ignoring what your brain thinks it “knows” about what you see.
• If colors are mixed with care, the resulting picture can evoke time of day or the weather.
• You can choose to paint three different landscapes or the same landscape at three different times of day.

• 8B (pg 92)
• Paint a series of three retinal still life studies.
• You can crop to approximately 7”x9” for each.
• A viewfinder made by cutting out an aspect-matching rectangle in the center of  a piece of cardboard is helpful, but not required. 
• Just like before, try to render colors precisely as you see them, ignoring what your brain thinks it “knows” about what you see.
• Examples can be found on page 92.

Free Studies

• No less than two paintings that explore either progressions of color, the illusion of transparency, retinal color, or any combination of these.
• Free studies can be more loosely executed, but keep color readable.
• Experiment with how you apply the paint.  Consider using something other than your paintbrush.
• The support can be Bristol board or some other material of your choice.
• Examples can be found on pages 94-95.

Color Applications Studies (Part 1)

Due March 27

Assignment 6: Progression Studies

• 6A (pg 84)
• Paint two separate progressions on vertical rectangles of Bristol board at least 4” wide and as tall as you like.
• Each progression should involve at least two parts of color (hue, value, and/or saturation).
• Split each progression in half from top to bottom, then cut apart the strips of color in one half of each.
• Mount the original progressions on a sheet of Bristol board.
• Use the cut strips of color to integrate the two progressions and mount this new progression onto a second sheet of Bristol.
• Assignments 6, 7 & 8 due March 27

• 6B (pg 84)
• Create a design that incorporates progression in hue, value, and saturation.  For added interest you might extend the concept of progression to other formal variables such as shape or interval.
• Look at examples in figures 5.25-5.27 on page 84.
• Assignments 6, 7 & 8 due March 27

Sketchbook Assignment #3

Good/Bad Color Compositions

• Due March 1 when you turn in your sketchbook for midterm grading.
• Design a composition that utilizes a five-color palette, with one dominant color.
• Using gouache, produce two versions of this design in your sketchbook, each on a different page.
• In each composition, the design will remain identical, but you will use different colors.
• One which uses five colors chosen from your "Good" colors
• One which uses five colors chosen from your "Bad" colors
• This composition may be representational, done from observation of life or a photograph, abstract, or nonrepresentational.
• If you work from observation, you are allowed to incorporate tints and shades of your colors.
• If you work in an abstract or nonrepresentational manner, use only the five colors unaltered.
• Remember that one of the five colors should be dominant.

 

 

 

Color Interaction Studies

Assignment #5

Guidelines

• In Assignment #5, you will be doing your own experiments done within the parameters of Josef Albers’s method.
• This will require that each page have a series of paired concentric squares.
• Each square will be 2”x2” with a ½” square in its center.
• Use the measurements provided here to organize each sheet of 9”x12” Bristol board into 8 pairs of concentric squares with a 2”x9” space at the bottom for writing notes.
• After you draw the grid onto each page, erase all lines that cross into the margins around and between each pair.  
• This is to ensure that the colors you place on the page will only be interacting with each other and the pure white of the paper without interference from your graphite lines.

5A (pg 70)

• Try to make alter only the value of a single color by changing its surroundings.
• 4 pairs in which you alter only the value of achromatic grays.
• Hue and saturation are not present, so this is a fairly simple task.
• 4 pairs in which you alter only the value (and not the hue) in full color at various saturation levels.
• The presence of hue this time complicates the experiment.  Try your best not to alter the hue of your central color.

5B (pg 70)

• Now try to achieve a shift in hue but not value.
• `8 pairs in which you alter only the hue (and not the value) in full color at various saturation levels.

5C (pg 71)

• Now.try to achieve a shift in both hue and value.
• 6 pairs in full color at various saturation levels.
• Try to invert the procedure and attempt to make two different colors look as much alike as possible.
• 2 pairs

5D (pg 71)

• Now create a composition using the principle of simultaneous contrast.
• Try to give specific colors within the composition at least two different identities throughout your design
• The book says to use cut paper collage, and you can, but you may also use gouache.
• For an example, see page 72.

Free Study

• Create at least one composition on 9”x12” Bristol board that either carries over ideas from the color interaction assignments you’ve just done or conduct color experiments of your own.
• This composition can be in a format of your own choosing.