Sunday, May 25, 2008

May 25: Pomodoro

I could really use some tips for painting red objects without turning them into mud...

8 comments:

juj said...

I don't think this looks like mud at all, but I can offer a tip or two about red in general if it helps. Make sure if you are mixing your red with blue to remember that Thalo and Winsor both lean towards green, so if you mix them with a bright red or vermillion (which lean toward yellow) you will end up with a gray. For a vibrant mix that leans towards violet (which is nice for shadows with red) mix alizarin or thalo crimson with French ultramarine or ultramarine blue. If you want something warmer, or an orange mix, either of those reds with Winsor yellow is good.

Sharon said...

This is helpful. Thanks so much, Juj! Maybe for June I should paint a red object every day, until I've mastered it.

Tess Kincaid said...

Actually, Sharon, I think your tomatoes are the perfect shade of red! They look juicy! :)

Cris, Artist in Oregon said...

This looks pretty good to me too.
I found your blog on Brush with colors blog.
I was going to suggest you look up Paris breakfasts blog, listed on my blog or Brush's blog, as she does wonderful watercolors and works in an art store with pigments, but seems like you got some help here already.
We are in the same State is seems. :)

Joan Y said...

Looks like you already have a great handling of reds! Oh, I appreciate Juj's info too. I admit I have lots of issues with red too!

Anonymous said...

I don't see any mud here! I've been studying color lately and have been learning about a way of painting that focuses less on "local" color (apples are red, grass is green) and more on the effects of light on the subject, looking for colors other than the local color that when next to each other give the illusion of red tomato (like maybe there's yellow and orange on the lit side and red-violets on the shadow side (if the light is warm).

R K said...

If this is 'mud'...it's the kind of mud that people travel a long distance to luxuriate in.

(I have to say, I have been slipping in and out without comment, this whole Italian month.)

Robyn Sinclair said...

First of all, I think your tomato is a very lovely, realistic red, Sharon.

Judi has given you excellent notes. The only point I would add is that I find Alizarin Crimson beautiful to work with and, although I don't use it a lot because it isn't transparent, to drop some pure Cadmium red into the Alizarin on the warm side of the subject can work very nicely.

I find red fruit and flowers very difficult to photograph, for that reason I usually paint them from life.