This section covers some topics that may be of interest to viewers
curious about the painting process. Parts may also be of interest to
 those just starting their art careers (or to experienced traditional oil
painters thinking of switching to water soluble oil paints).
The Paints - Medium and Brands
Going Green: While early work
was done using several different paint-
ing mediums, Jim is currently concentrating on oil painting and using
the more environmentally friendly water miscible (mixable or soluble)
oils. These clean up with soap and water and avoid the use of solv-
ents with their attendant environmental problems. Water miscible oils
use the same kinds of pigments as regular oils. They employ modified
oils (which allow the paint to mix with water as well as turpinoid, etc.).
Once the initial water content has evaporated, which occurs relatively
quickly, they act as traditional oils. They can be mixed with traditional
oils, but if the latter are used in other than small portions, the mix must
be thinned/cleaned with traditional mediums/solvents. Eight comp-
anies now produce water mixable oils. For more information about
these paints and the range of colors available, search the Internet for
the following manufacturer's names.
Daniel Smith Water Soluable Oils
Grumbacher MAX Oils
Holbein Duo Aqua Oils
Reeves Water Mixable Oils (school packs)
Royal Talens Cobra Water Mixable Oils
Winsor & Newton Artisan Oils
Lukas Berlin Water Mixable Oils
Martin/F. Weber wOil Water Mixable Oils
Jim's Paint Colors
An Expanded Split Primary Palette
A split primary uses "cool" and "warm" versions of each primary color.
For example, yellow a bit on the green or "cool" side (Lemon Yellow)
and a yellow a bit on the orange or "warm" side (Cad. Yellow Medium).
His colors are chosen from several brands of water soluble paints.
Standard Use Colors
Occasional Use Colors
Titanium White (Artisan/Cobra)
Alizarin Crimson (Artisan)
Pyrrole Red [1] (Cobra)
Cadmium Yellow Medium (Artisan)
Lemon Yellow [2] (Duo Aqua)
French Ultramarine Blue (Artisan)
Cobalt Blue (Artisan)
Cerulean Blue (Duo Aqua)
Yellow Ochre (Artisan)
Burnt Umber (Artisan)
Vermillion [3] (Duo Aqua & Cobra)
Cadmium-Barium Orange [4] (MAX)
Cadmium Yellow Light (Artisan)
Phthalo Blue (RS) [5] (Artisan)
Phthalo Green (YS) [6] (Artisan)
Indigo (Duo Aqua)
Payne's Gray (Artisan)
Burnt Sienna [7] (Artisan)
Jim's Comments on Some of the Colors He Uses:
My primary painting subjects are landscape and wildlife. These colors
may not be sufficient or appropriate for other painting subjects. Also,
I recently acquired a few Daniel Smith paint colors. Using them may
change some of my current preferred color and/or brand choices (see
Preliminary Results below).
[1] Pyrrole Red replaces Cadmium Red Medium in my palette as it seems
to have more "punch". It does start to dry relatively quickly (on the
palette developing an outer skin). This can be a problem when paint-
ing outdoors.
[2] W&N Artisan paints are said to have a bit less pigment than some
other brands. When using Artisan Lemon Yellow in a color mixture,
relatively large quantities of this color have to be used to get the
desired results. While much more expensive, Holbein Duo Aqua
Lemon Yellow is much stronger. To me its strength outways the cost.
[3] Vermillion is a great for developing color tints for clouds (as is Yellow
Ochre). It is also useful for mixing Wyoming's red earth and rock
colors. The Cobra brand is a bit more orange than the Duo Aqua.
Depending upon the subject and lighting, one may work a bit better
than the other.
[4] Most of the time I mix the secondary colors using my split primarys.
Occasionally a painting will require a large amount of secondary
color (such as orange in "Big Horn Lake Sunset"). In such cases
it saves significant mixing time to use a secondary color. One just
has to be careful to vary that color to ensure the painting has plenty
of "life".
[5] Phthalo Blue and Lemon Yellow make a very strong, bright Viridian.
In my experience this green is not very common in the Wyoming
landscape. However, it may be helpful in limited instances. It is
very useful in depicting the western Washington landscape.
[6] Phthalo Green has only been used by me in conjunction with Phthalo
Blue and Alizarin Crimson. This combination makes a very vibrant
black, especially useful as background in astronomical paintings. Mix
three batches of these colors, with a different color slightly predomin-
ating in each batch. Apply these randomly to give the background
a feeling of great depth.
[7] For painting surfaces to be used outdoors I apply liberally thinned
Burnt Sienna and use paper towels to wipe it off. There should be
just enough color remaining to cut the glare of the outdoor light on
the canvas. I use Cobra's water mixable glazing medium for thin-
ning. Panels so treated dry relatively quickly.
Preliminary Results with Daniel Smith Water Soluble Oils:
Several colors seem to have more "palette life" than their Artisan or Cobra
counterparts. I.E., they remain usable on the palette a bit longer. What
affect this has, if any, on the drying time once applied to a painting surface
is still being evaluated. I am working with the following colors to see how
they work for me as to "palette life" and other characteristics. This is being
done using a plein air setup. With other types of setups (e.g. a French
easel), there might be different results.
[A] Titanium White instead of the Artisan brand. This is not an entirely
fair comparison, as the Artisan I am using was purchased a number of
years ago and there may be a shelf life issue.
[B] Alizarin Crimson instead of the Artisan brand. The one tube being
used to date is a bit runnier than the Artisan brand. A few times
part of it did not stick where placed on the plastic palette. Another
sample will need to be tried.
[C] Cadmium Red Medium Hue instead of Cobra Pyrrole Red. This has
the "punch" that the Cobra exibits to me over the Artisan brand.
[D] French Ultramarine instead of the Artisan brand. Again, there may be
a shelf life issue with the Artisan I am using in this comparison.
Is the Choice of Colors Critical?
Perhaps Not As Critical As One Might Think
Four different sets of colors used by well established teaching artists
can be seen below. Each artist used their own color set to make
paintings in the same area of Wyoming and each of their paintings
successfully reflected that locale.
Palette One:
Titanium White
Alizarin Crimson
Cadmium Red Lt
Cadmium Orange
Cadmium Yellow Lt
Perm Green Lt
Chrome Ox Green
Viridian
Ultramarine Blue
Cobalt Blue
Yellow Ochre
Transp Red Oxide
Burnt Sienna
Ivory Black
Palette Two:
Titanium White
Alizarin Crimson
Cadmium Red Lt
Cadmium Orange
Cadmium Yellow
Thalo Green
Ultramarine Blue
Yellow Ochre
Burnt Sienna
Palette Three:
White
Cadmium Red Med
Cadmium Red Lt
Cadmium Ylw Med
Sap Green
Viridian
Ultramarine Blue
Cobalt Blue
Cerulean Blue
Yellow Ochre
Raw Umber
Palette Four:
Titanium White
Alizarin Crimson
Cadmium Red Med
Transp Orange
Cadmium Yellow
Ultramarine Blue
Cobalt Blue
Cerulean Blue
Thalo Blue
Indigo
Yellow Ochre
The Studio
The garage takes up the only north-facing portion of the house. So
the studio had to be installed without benefit of north light. Adjustable
blinds and curtains are used to shield out direct sunlight from the two
small windows. Painting light is provided by 5100K track lighting.
VIEW 1 - Main features (L to R): a comfortable chair, a kitchen cabinet
"taboret", a Richeson Best Santa Fe III easel, and a wet canvas rack
(Jim's own design). Track lighting has been added since this picture
was taken.
VIEW 2 - Features (L to R): a framed-painting storage rack, computer
and photograph/slide scanning work areas, and art supply storage
shelves.
VIEW 3 - Features (L to R): storage cabinets with canvas stretching
work table and main painting area with the track lighting. Adjustable
blinds keep direct sunlight off the painting area.