Unit I, Lesson 4--Transparent Oxide Red Color Chart

Transparent Oxide Red color chart

Transparent Oxide Red creates fantastic skin and earth tones, as well as great neutral grays when mixed with blues.

Materials needed:

• Oil Colors
• Alizarin Permanent
• Cadmium Red Deep 
• Transparent Oxide Red (lots of it)
• Cadmium Yellow Light
• Cadmium Lemon
• Viridian Green
• Phthalo Blue
• Ultramarine Blue
• Titanium Zinc White
• Canvas pad--I used Centurion oil-primed linen, 9"x12"
• Masking tape--I used 3/4" tape

Unit I, Lesson 4 took me about 2 hours to complete.  

Step One: Divide the canvas

Divide your canvas pad using the method outlined in Unit I, Lesson 1.  See my time-saving T-square trick here.

Step Two:  Arrange the colors

The colors remain in the same order as in the first color chart.

Step Three:  Mix the colors and apply the paint

My first column consisted only of Transparent Oxide Red, tinted to increase (or lighten) the value down through the rows.  I continued through Transparent Oxide Red + Cadmium Yellow Light (the next color on the color wheel in my palette), Transparent Oxide Red + Cadmium Lemon, Transparent Oxide Red + Viridian Green, Transparent Oxide Red + Phthalo Blue, and Transparent Oxide Red + Ultramarine Blue.  Then, going full circle, I added a column of Transparent Oxide Red + Alizarin Permanent and Transparent Oxide Red + Cadmium Red Deep.

Transparent Oxide Red color chart in progress

I completed this color chart fairly late on a work night, and it shows.  For the last little row of the last column (Transparent Oxide Red + Cadmium Red Deep), I only had a small spot of white left, and I tried to make it stretch.  It didn't work, see?

Transparent Oxide Red + Cadmium Red Deep value mistake

I saw the mistake, but because I was tired, I waited until the next day to fix it.  I needed to mix up another pile of Transparent Oxide Red + Cadmium Red Deep to add enough white to make the value appropriate, scrape the incorrect value, and add the correct hue and value.  Here it is fixed.  To prevent this from happening, see my value exercise that I figured out later here.

Transparent Oxide Red + Cadmium Red Deep lightest value corrected

Studio Tip

With all of these color charts, I've been going through paint like crazy.  Here are some items I find useful in the studio.  The first is a paint tube wringer:  

Tube Wringer

This tool squeezes out every last bit of paint.  You can buy one here.  Second, because I go to my canvas during little windows of time during the day, I frequently have leftover unused paint on my palette which I don't want to go to waste.  These "paint savers" form a more-or-less airtight seal over the paint on my glass palette to keep the paint fresh for days (maybe longer--I haven't tested this.)

Paint Savers

You can buy the paint savers here.

Step Four: Remove the tape

Step Five:  Let it dry

Transparent Oxide Red color chart columns left to right:  Transparent Oxide Red; Transparent Oxide Red + Cadmium Yellow Light; Transparent Oxide Red + Cadmium Lemon; Transparent Oxide Red + Viridian Green; Transparent Oxide Red + Phthalo Blue; Transparent Oxide Red + Ultramarine Blue; Transparent Oxide Red + Alizarin Permanent; Transparent Oxide Red + Cadmium Red Deep

Things I learned:

• Don't be lazy when shifting the values lighter.
• Transparent Oxide Red mixed with blue makes beautiful neutral grays.  
• You'll see the color squares are not as sharp as in my previous charts.  I think this is because I was reaching the end of my roll of masking tape, so it was more tightly curved.  Consequently, I think it buckled on the canvas.  For the next color chart, I will make sure I press the tape more firmly down. 

Here is a (blurry, sorry) comparison of the color charts made in the first four lessons of Unit I.  

Unit I, Lessons 1 through 4--Color Charts.
Upper left: Full Color Palette Color Chart (Unit I, Lesson 1); upper right: Alizarin Permanent Color Chart (Unit I, Lesson 2); lower left: Cadmium Red Deep Color Chart (Unit I, Lesson 3); lower right: Transparent Oxide Red Color Chart (Unit I, Lesson 4) 

You can access all of the lessons in this unit from the Index of Lessons page here.

Upcoming Lesson  

Unit I, Lesson 5--Cadmium Yellow Light Color Chart

Materials needed:

• Oil Colors
• Alizarin Permanent
• Cadmium Red Deep 
• Transparent Oxide Red
• Cadmium Yellow Light (lots of it)
• Cadmium Lemon
• Viridian Green
• Phthalo Blue
• Ultramarine Blue
• Titanium Zinc White
• Canvas pad--I used Centurion oil-primed linen, 9"x12"
• Masking tape--I used 3/4" tape

Unit I, Lesson 5 took me about 2 hours to complete.  

As always, please subscribe to follow along or join in.  I'd love to meet you--please introduce yourself in the comments.  Also, your feedback is most appreciated.  Leave your questions, comments, and hate mail below.  (I won't post the hate mail, ha!)  Thanks for stopping by.  Monique

Unit I, Lesson 3--Cadmium Red Deep Color Chart

Cadmium Red Deep color chart (askew image--sorry about that!)

Cadmium Red Deep is a dark opaque red that leans yellow, which is particularly obvious when compared to Alizarin Permanent.  It is also lighter in value than Alizarin Permanent.

Approximate time to complete:  2 1/2 hours

Materials needed:

• Oil Colors
• Alizarin Permanent
• Cadmium Red Deep (lots of it)
• Transparent Red Oxide
• Cadmium Yellow Light
• Cadmium Lemon
• Viridian Green
• Phthalo Blue
• Ultramarine Blue
• Titanium Zinc White
• Canvas pad--I used Centurion oil-primed linen, 9"x12"
• Masking tape--I used 3/4" tape

This was pretty straight forward.  Because it is an opaque color, Cadmium Red Deep is easy to mix. It grays down fairly quickly, even with Cadmium Yellow Light, which was a bit surprising.  I expected the color to remain more on the vibrant side when mixed with other colors that lean yellow and red. The transparent reds (Alizarin Permanent and Transparent Oxide Red) created the most vibrant straight mixes.

Step One: Divide the canvas

Divide your canvas pad using the method outlined in Unit I, Lesson 1.

Oh, and figured out a trick to make masking go a bit more quickly.  I have a clear plastic T-square, so I stuck a piece of masking tape along just the bottom to mark the measurement between the columns, and I wrapped a piece all the way around to mark the measurement between the rows, like this:

T-square trick

This made my masking job easier, particularly for tired eyes.

Step Two:  Arrange the colors

Keep the colors in the same order as in Lessons 1 and 2.

Step Three:  Mix the colors and apply the paint

Here, I decided to keep my colors in the same order as they started throughout the charts.  So, my first column consisted of Cadmium Red Deep, tinted through the rows with Titanium White.  The next row was Cadmium Red Deep + Transparent Oxide Red (as opposed to Alizarin Permanent), tinted to lighten the values through the rows with Titanium White.  I continued in this fashion through the yellows, green, and blues, and my last column was Cadmium Red Deep + Alizarin Permanent.  See my value exercise that I figured out later here.  

Columns from left to right:  Cadmium Red Deep; Cadmium Red Deep + Transparent Oxide Red; Cadmium Red Deep + Cadmium Yellow Light; Cadmium Red Deep + Cadmium Lemon; Cadmium Red Deep + Viridian Green; Cadmium Red Deep + Phthalo Blue; Cadmium Red Deep + Ultramarine Blue; Cadmium Red Deep + Alizarin Permanent 

Step Four:  Remove the tape

Here is the finished product.

Completed Cadmium Red Deep color chart

Step Five:  Let it dry

Here is a comparison of the Alizarin Permanent color chart and the Cadmium Red Deep color chart.  You can really see the differences in the warm versus cool reds here.

Comparison of Alizarin Permanent and Cadmium Red Deep color charts

Alizarin Permanent (chart on left) columns from left to right:  Alizarin Permanent; Alizarin Permanent + Cadmium Red Deep; Alizarin Permanent + Transparent Oxide Red; Alizarin Permanent + Cadmium Yellow Light; Alizarin Permanent + Cadmium Lemon; Alizarin Permanent + Viridian Green; Alizarin Permanent + Phthalo Blue; Alizarin Permanent + Ultramarine Blue

Cadmium Red Deep (chart on right) columns from left to right:  Cadmium Red Deep; Cadmium Red Deep + Transparent Oxide Red; Cadmium Red Deep + Cadmium Yellow Light; Cadmium Red Deep + Cadmium Lemon; Cadmium Red Deep + Viridian Green; Cadmium Red Deep + Phthalo Blue; Cadmium Red Deep + Ultramarine Blue; Cadmium Red Deep + Alizarin Permanent 

You can access all of the lessons in this unit from the Index of Lessons page here.

Upcoming Lesson  

Unit I, Lesson 4--Transparent Oxide Red Color Chart

Materials needed:

• Oil Colors
• Alizarin Permanent
• Cadmium Red Deep 
• Transparent Oxide Red (lots of it)
• Cadmium Yellow Light
• Cadmium Lemon
• Viridian Green
• Phthalo Blue
• Ultramarine Blue
• Titanium Zinc White
• Canvas pad--I used Centurion oil-primed linen, 9"x12"
• Masking tape--I used 3/4" tape

Unit I, Lesson 4 took me about 2 hours to complete.  

As always, please subscribe to follow along or join in.  I'd love to meet you--please introduce yourself in the comments.  Also, your feedback is most appreciated.  Leave your questions, comments, and hate mail below.  (I won't post the hate mail, ha!)  Thanks for stopping by.  Monique

Unit I, Lesson 2--Alizarin Permanent Color Chart

Alizarin Permanent is a transparent blueish red and is a lightfast substitute for Alizarin Crimson.  You can read about the differences between the pigments used in each here on the website for Gamblin Artist's Colors.

Materials needed:

• Oil Colors
• Alizarin Permanent
• Transparent Red Oxide
• Cadmium Red Deep
• Cadmium Yellow Light
• Cadmium Lemon
• Viridian Green
• Phthalo Blue
• Ultramarine Blue
• Titanium White
• Canvas pad--I used Centurion oil-primed linen, 9"x12"
• Masking tape--I used 3/4" tape

This second lesson took me approximately 3 hours.

The purpose of this chart is to see how Alizarin Permanent mixes with the other colors in my palette.  The first column consists of Alizarin Permanent by itself.  The next column is Alizarin Permanent mixed with Cadmium Red Deep, which is the next color in my palette that is closest on the color wheel.  The rows are steps of tints, just like with the first color chart.

Step One:  Divide the canvas

Divide the canvas using the method described in Unit I, Lesson 1.  (Update:  I figured out a short-cut to help the process go quicker.  See it in Unit I, Lesson 3 here.)

Step Two:  Arrange the colors

The colors remain in the same order (the proper order!) as in the first color chart.  As noted above, the first column will consist of Alizarin Permanent by itself, tinted to lighten the value down through the rows.  The second column will consist of Alizarin Permanent mixed with Cadmium Red Deep, the next color in my palette that is closest to Alizarin Permanent, then I lighten the color progressively down the rows.  The third column will consist of Alizarin Permanent mixed with Transparent Oxide Red, then I lighten the color progressively down the rows.  And so on and so forth.

Step Three:  Mix the colors and apply the paint

Halfway done!

Something interesting happened when I mixed Alizarin Permanent and Viridian Green.  Because red and green are opposites on the color wheel, I expected a rather neutral grey when mixed.  Instead, it creates a lovely muted purple!  See the fifth column here:

Surprise!  See the sixth column--Alizarin Permanent+Viridian Green=lovely grey purple

Alizarin Permanent and Viridian Green both lean toward blue, and the red pigment in Alizarin Permanent is strong, so it overpowers the yellow in the green.

You can also see that the blue pigment in Phthalo Blue is very strong.  Although blue+red=purple, it leans blue.  See my value exercise that I figured out later here.

Step Four: Remove the tape

Step Five:  Let it dry

Completed Alizarin Permanent color chart.  From left to right:  (1) Alizarin Permanent, (2) Alizarin Permanent+Cadmium Red Deep, (3) Alizarin Permanent+Transparent Oxide Red, (4) Alizarin Permanent+Cadmium Yellow Light, (5) Alizarin Permanent+Cadmium Lemon, (6) Alizarin Permanent+Viridian Green, (7) Alizarin Permanent+Phthalo Blue, (8) Alizarin Permanent+Ultramarine Blue

Things I learned:  

• Alizarin Permanent is a transparent, which greatly affects how much you must use when mixing.  When mixing with another transparent color, you can keep the ratio about 1:1 and get a good mix.  When mixing with an opaque, however, like Cadmium Red Deep, you need a lot more Alizarin Permanent in the ratio, at least 2:1, maybe even 3:1.  Opaques overpower transparents quickly.  This goes for mixing with Titanium Zinc White, as well.  
• Mixing transparent colors into opaques is like mixing oil and water.  The transparent likes to sit on top of the opaque.  It is a fun process.
• You can see the cooling power of Titanium Zinc White by comparing the lightest tint to the middle value.  Although when looking at the middle tint of Alizarin Permanent + Cadmium Red Deep, it is clear it is warmer than Alizarin Permanent alone, the lightest tints look nearly the same.  
• Alizarin Permanent + Viridian Green = Gray purple.  Who knew?  I didn't before today!

You can access all of the lessons in this unit from the Index of Lessons page here.

Upcoming Lesson  

Unit I, Lesson 3--Cadmium Red Deep color chart

Materials needed:

• Oil Colors
• Alizarin Permanent
• Cadmium Red Deep (lots of it)
• Transparent Red Oxide
• Cadmium Yellow Light
• Cadmium Lemon
• Viridian Green
• Phthalo Blue
• Ultramarine Blue
• Titanium Zinc White
• Canvas pad--I used Centurion oil-primed linen, 9"x12"
• Masking tape--I used 3/4" tape

Lesson 3 took me approximately 2.5 hours.  I'm getting quicker!

As always, please subscribe below to follow along or join in.  I'd love to meet you--please introduce yourself in the comments.  Also, your feedback is most appreciated.  Leave your questions, comments, and hate mail below.  (I won't post the hate mail, ha!)  Thanks for stopping by.  Monique

Unit I, Lesson 1--Full Color Palette Color Chart

The first color chart consists of each hue within my usual palette, starting with the fully saturated color straight from the tube at the top, working to a light tint at the bottom by adding Titanium White.  

• Oil Colors
• Alizarin Permanent
• Transparent Oxide Red
• Cadmium Red Deep
• Cadmium Yellow Light
• Cadmium Lemon
• Viridian Green
• Phthalo Blue
• Ultramarine Blue
• Titanium White
• Canvas pad--I used Centurion oil-primed linen, 9"x12"
• Masking tape--I used 3/4" tape

Approximate time to complete:  4 hours (including the mistake I outline below)

Step One:  Divide and mask the canvas

To make pretty little rows and columns of color, I masked off the areas that I wanted left free of paint.  I wanted to make 5 rows of 8 columns, so I divided my canvas appropriately with a T-square, allowing for a border of blank canvas all around.  I plan to mat and frame the canvases after they dry, and I'll mount a label near each frame.  After masking around the edges, I was left with 10.5" x 7.5" of working space.  Accounting for the rows, I calculated that the tape takes up 3 inches, so my squares had to be .9 inches long each.  Accounting for the columns, I calculated that the tape and the painted squares would take up 5.25" each, so each painted square had to equal .65".  Using my T-square, I applied a row of tape and measured from that to the next.  (Update:  I figured out a short-cut to help the process go quicker.  See it in Unit I, Lesson 3 here.)

Masking the rows

Using the same method, I masked off the columns.  

Masking the columns

Fully masked

I made a point to remember the order in which I layered the tape to make it easy to remove in Step Four.  

Step Two:  Arrange the colors

Your colors should range from red through yellow and blue.  Each hue within each range should range in that order.  Think of a color wheel, like this:

Color Wheel by Karen Arnold

At first, I arranged my colors as follows: (1) Alizarin Permanent, a transparent which has more blue in it than yellow; (2) Cadmium Red Deep, an opaque which has no blue in it and has more yellow than Alizarin Permanent; (3) Transparent Oxide Red, a transparent which has more yellow than Cadmium Red Deep and therefore looks a bit orange; (4) Cadmium Yellow Light, an opaque which contains a tiny bit of red; (5) Cadmium Lemon, an opaque which is on the greener side, therefore, contains a bit of blue; (6) Viridian Green, a transparent and my only green because I mix the others from my blues and yellows; (7) Phthalo Blue, a greenish blue; and (8) Ultramarine Blue, which contains a bit of red.

Step Three:  Mix the colors and apply the paint

Keeping your colors in the proper order (thinking of a color wheel), apply color straight from the tube to the top row.  The bottom row should be a slight tint.  The middle should be a tint between the first and last row, and the second and fourth rows should be in-between steps.  I applied the color to the canvas with a small palette knife.  See my value exercise that I figured out later here.

After putting the colors on my palette, I made a mistake.  Instead of placing Transparent Oxide Red after Cadmium Red Deep, I rearranged it to before.  I did this because of the value and saturation of the color.  I couldn't tell how yellow Transparent Oxide Red leaned.  See?

Wrong order

  It looked fine at this stage, but look what happened when I tinted the colors:

Definitely the wrong order

It is clear that the Transparent Oxide Red contains a lot more yellow than the Cadmium Red Deep, which is why the third and fourth rows stick out like sore thumbs.

So, I fixed it.  Using my palette knife, scraped the rows of Transparent Oxide Red and Cadmium Red Deep, wiped the columns with turpentine, and switched them.

Correct order

I knew this would affect the final look (some turpentine soaks under the masking tape and bleeds around the edges), but being a practice exercise, I decided to complete it rather than start over.  I learned a lesson, and that is what counts!

From left to right: Alizarin Permanent, Cadmium Red Deep, Transparent Oxide Red, Cadmium Yellow Light, and Cadmium Lemon 

Complete with all of the colors on your palette.

From left to right: Alizarin Permanent, Cadmium Red Deep, Transparent Oxide Red, Cadmium Yellow Light, Cadmium Lemon, Viridian Green, Phthalo Blue, and Ultramarine Blue

Step Four: Remove the tape

Remembering the order in which I applied the layers of tape, I carefully removed it when the paint was still wet.

Step Five:  Let it dry

Finished product

I learned a lot with this exercise, but I wasn't completely happy with the results because of the weeping color around some of the squares.  I had to remind myself of the purpose for the color charts exercise--becoming fluent with my palette and color mixing!  Overall, I call it a success.

What I learned:

• Arrange the colors in their order on the color wheel--color saturation has nothing to do with anything!  If you have questions about the order, add some white to the saturated hue to see which way the color "leans."
• Titanium white definitely cools as it tints.  You can see this in Row 5--All of the colors look cooler (or bluer) than in the middle row.  

You can access all of the lessons in this unit from the Index of Lessons page here.

Upcoming Lesson  

Unit I, Lesson Two--Alizarin Permanent color chart

Materials needed:

• Oil Colors
• Alizarin Permanent (lots of it)
• Cadmium Red Deep
• Transparent Oxide Red
• Cadmium Yellow Light
• Cadmium Lemon
• Viridian Green
• Phthalo Blue
• Ultramarine Blue
• Titanium White
• Canvas pad--I used Centurion oil-primed linen, 9"x12"
• Masking tape--I used 3/4" tape

This second lesson took me approximately 3 hours.

As always, please subscribe to follow along or join in.  I'd love to meet you--please introduce yourself in the comments.  Also, your feedback is most appreciated.  Leave your questions, comments, and hate mail below.  (I won't post the hate mail, ha!)  Thanks for stopping by.  Monique

Unit I Introduction--Color Mixing Charts

For Unit I, I will be creating color mixing charts as described by Richard Schmid in his book Alla Prima II, which you can buy here.  I will make 9 color charts total, one for all of my colors alone, and one each for the colors I use in my palette.  Here is an example of a color chart I completed using Alizarin Permanent:

Alizarin Permanent Color Chart

The purpose of the exercise is to become fluent in working with your preferred palette and learn the ins and outs of working with transparent and opaque oil paints.  If you are doing the exercises yourself, simply swap out your preferred palette.  

Here is the list of materials I used for Unit I:

• Oil Colors (I use Gamblin Oil Colors unless otherwise noted)
• Alizarin Permanent
• Transparent Oxide Red (Rembrandt)
• Cadmium Red Deep
• Cadmium Yellow Light (Winsor & Newton) 
• Cadmium Lemon
• Viridian Green (Rembrandt)
• Phthalo Blue
• Ultramarine Blue
• Titanium White

My paints

• Canvas pad--I used Centurion oil-primed linen, 9"x12".  Make sure you have one canvas sheet for each color (not including white), plus one extra. 

Oil-primed linen pad

• Masking tape--I used 3/4" tape

Here is a list of tools I used:

• Easel
• Glass palette
• Palette knives
• T-square

Here is my Pinterest board for the lessons in Unit I:

       Follow Monique's board Wet On The Easel Blog Unit I Materials on Pinterest.  
Each pin has a link to a reasonable source for the item.

Unit I consists of nine lessons--one for each color chart I will complete.  Each color chart took me 2-4 hours to complete (they get easier and quicker!).   

You can access all of the lessons in this unit from the Index of Lessons page here.

Upcoming Lesson  

Unit I, Lesson One--Full Color Palette

The materials are listed above.

Approximate time to complete:  4 hours (part of that was fixing a goof-up)

As always, please subscribe to follow along or join in.  I'd love to meet you--please introduce yourself in the comments.  Also, your feedback is most appreciated.  Leave your questions, comments, and hate mail below.  (I won't post the hate mail, ha!)  Thanks for stopping by.  Monique

Introduction to Units I, II, III, and IV

Learning the art of painting is not an easy task.  It takes a great deal of intelligence, 

keen analysis, study and practice.

~Edgar A. Payne

Well, at least I can study and practice.  Here is a sneak peek into what to expect for Units I, II, III, and IV:

• Unit I:  Exercise based on Richard Schmid's color charts (buy his book Alla Prima II here). 

• Unit II: Leslie Saeta's 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge, beginning January 1, 2016 (sign up for the challenge here).  Some of the individual exercises will be loosely based on those found in Carol Marine's book, Daily Painting (buy her book here).

• Unit III:  Review of and exercises based on Kevin Macpherson's Landscape Painting Inside & Out (buy his book here.)

• Unit IV:  Review of and exercises based on John F. Carlson's Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting (buy his book here).

Here is my Pinterest board with links to the books:

       Follow Monique's board Art Books for Wet On The Easel Blog on Pinterest.  

I suggest buying the books; they are great resources and you'll get more out of the exercises if you do.

As always, please subscribe to follow along or join in.  I'd love to meet you--please introduce yourself in the comments.  Also, your feedback is most appreciated.  Leave your questions, comments, and hate mail below.  (I won't post the hate mail, ha!)  Thanks for stopping by.  Monique

Firsties!

Rest assured that if you work every day at your art, using the materials nearest at hand, you will gradually discover such beauty in them that they will fill you with happiness.  

~John F. Carlson

Welcome to my blog!  Here I will share my curriculum of self-guided activities to improve my skills and individual style in creating landscape and still life oil paintings.  I hope you'll join in my journey.  You can learn more about me here, and here is a link to some of my recent art.

My curriculum is based on various treasured art books, online challenges, and other resources.  I have used each resource to create "units" and divided the units into discrete lessons or practice goals.

Some of my favorite art books

At the beginning of each unit, I will post information about the resource and necessary materials.  For each lesson, I will provide explanation, document my process, and post my results through text, photos, and video.  I will also post the materials needed for the next lesson.  I hope this format makes it easy for others to follow along.  Please just bear with me because I haven't written a blog before.  I'll get there.

Please subscribe to follow along or join in.  I'd love to meet you--please introduce yourself in the comments.  Also, your feedback is most appreciated.  Leave your questions, comments, and hate mail below.  (I won't post the hate mail, ha!)  Thanks for stopping by.  Monique