Mu, Cisc0
The reason why these thumbs look beautiful is not because I drew them, but because John Stobart’s paintings, of which these thumbnails are quick notes, are so well composed. It is here that Loomis’ theories on values are proven to be true. I am beginning to realize that there is much power in his words; “If the design doesn’t work, you can paint all you want to, but your final product won’t work”.
The importance of thumbnailing is beginning to come clear to me.
On a different note, I was painting in color again this weekend.
I was reading [this book by Helen van Wyk](http://www.amazon.com/Color-Mixing-Van-Wyk-Way/dp/0929552180/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1266222699&sr=1-5)(my god, I named her van Dyk here and there, I'm so ashamed) on mixing color and she has a really interesting approach. Also some of her thoughts on painting are quite striking and putting me with both feet on the ground.
Some of my favourites:
Beginners should stop wanting to paint reality. One can only paint an interpretation of one's reality.
There are 4 questions that need to be asked constantly when mixing colors:
[ol]
[li]What’s the basic hue of the subject? The answer is always one of the following 6: yellow, orange, red, violet, blue or green.[/li][li]What’s the value of the color? Answer: light, middle or dark value in comparison to it’s environment[/li][li]How intense is the color? Is it very saturated, middle or low saturated?[/li][li]What’s the color’s temperature? Is it a warm or a cool tint?[/li][/ol]
Showing this still life I painted this weekend in acrylics on canvas.
I started off well by making a pencil sketch and rearranging the fruit until I was satisfied with the composition. Then I made an underpainting with only white and black. I got into trouble right away when painting the colors and it took me more than 3 hours to do that, because I was following my gut and not thinking about the 4 questions I just wrote above:
[ol]
[li]I saw the wrong colors.[/li][li]I did not paint the background “in” the subjects", which is why my edges are screwed.[/li][li]I didn’t think about the value of the colors I was mixing, which is why the forms are screwed here and there.[/li][li]I didn’t think about saturation, which is why some parts look dull and others look oversaturated.[/li][li]I didn’t think about color temperature, which is why my shadows are totally screwed.[/li][li]I didn’t thnk about the light and it’s influence on the forms, which is why the core shadows are screwed.[/li][li]I instantly was in trouble because I did not think enough about what colors I want to create and what colors I need to mix them. I must learn the color wheel inside out, as for now I’m not making too much of it.[/li][/ol]I’m assuming that I will be making these mistakes a hundred times more. If there is anything I overlooked, even though I’m doing much better at critisizing myself than I’d expected, please let me know. I will try to remember for the next painting. 
