Painting in Italy

I just returned home from teaching a workshop in Northern italy. I had a group of 12 students from various places in the US with me. We met in Milan and spent a couple of days there, then spent the rest of the week in a small town on Lake Garda.
Below is a demonstration painting I did the first day of the cloistered monastery where we stayed.

San Tomasso
Gargnano Italy
12 x 16 Watercolor
by Pat Fiorello
SOLD

Here are some other photo's from the workshop.

Watercolor demonstration- Smith Gilbert Gardens plein air workshop

Smith Gilbert Perennial Gardens
12 x 16
  Watercolor
by Pat Fiorello



We had another plein air workshop at the beautiful Smith Gilbert Gardens in Kennesaw, GA.
In this demo, I tried to capture the feeling of abundance of plants in a small section of their perennial gardens.

Here are some of my students having fun in the garden painting. It turned out to be a nice day- cooler than our last trip there in June

An Attitude of Gratitude

The Cloisters
Oil Painting by Pat Fiorello
SOLD

I recently went to an art workshop and during a Q&A session,  I asked the instructor, a master artist who's been painting for many years, if there was anything he did to relax and get himself "in the zone" to paint. I know sometimes people listen to music, meditate or do warm up exercises to loosen up brushwork so I was interested in what he had to say.  He was silent for a few moments then shared that he started each painting session thinking of all those he was grateful for in his art career- not only his past teachers- many of whom are gone now,  but also the Old Masters and others who contributed to the legacy of art handed down from generation to generation. He was so moved and present to gratitude that had to wipe back the tears when he shared that with the class.

Sometimes we can get so busy in the DOING part of life as an artist- the creating, but also the framing, buying supplies, marketing,cleaning our studios, entering shows, updating websites and other communications, blogging etc.. that we can lose sight of the joy of BEING an artist. I thought his comments about starting with gratitude could be a great way to  immediately presence that feeling of gratefulness for being able to live the life of an artist.

  After hearing this, I was inspired to start my own "Art Gratitude Journal".  So yesterday, I made a simple WORD document and have it visible on my computer desktop as a reminder to make it a daily practice to add to the list. I started out off the top of my head and in just a few minutes had a full page worth of people, places and things that I am grateful for that have contributed to me and my growth as an artist.  The more I thought about it, the more people, past and present, came up- some of whom I haven't seen in years or maybe only had a brief interaction with but who made a profound difference and others who might have had a brief conversation but that pointed me in the right direction or inspired me to take some action. Even appreciating my local art store knowing that it's a gift to be able to get the supplies I need, when I need them and many people are not fortunate to have that access.  It's amazing how good that feels to appreciate all those people. My intention is to take this on as a daily practice and start each painting session with an attitude of gratitude for the blessings of how wonderful it is to be able to live a life immersed in art.

I guess, if it "takes a village" to grow a child, it "takes a planet and centuries" to grow an artist. Just think about all the people who have come before us and shared what they have learned. It really is a rich tapestry of artists helping artists. Some of you- teachers, students, friends and fellow artists- may already be on my list and I sincerely thank you for being a part of my life.  I hope that I can contribute to you in some way too.  One might take on that as artists our job is not only to make a painting( or whatever you medium is), but to make a difference!

If you have a way you get grounded before you start painting, please feel free to share it with other artists by posting a comment here. Thanks

Have a grateful day!

Paint in Charleston

If you are ready for a fun, short painting getaway, here's an opportunity to paint in beautiful Charleston, S. C. I am teaching a workshop there in October. Details are listed below. Please feel free to share this with other artists who might be interested.

Paint Charleston! Painting Workshop with instructor Pat Fiorello 3-day workshop sponsored by the Charleston Art Guild October 10-12 9AM-4PM Workshop fee:  For Charleston Art Guild members:  $325.  For Non- Members:  $370. To register: Contact: Tina@TinaMaylandArt.com Tina can assist you with recommendations on lodging options if needed. Description Enjoy a fun 3 days painting in watercolor in beautiful Charleston S.C. with instructor Pat Fiorello. Learn how to paint beautiful landscapes including technique, composition, how to show depth in your landscape, editing while working on location and mixing colors, especially natural greens. Include demonstration, instruction, critique and individual guidance from Pat during student painting time. We will spend some time in the classroom on the first day for an overview and then (weather permitting) time out painting on location. We'll likely do at least one city scene in town and one day with a larger landscape vista (possibly at one of the plantations). Demonstrations will be in watercolor, but artists of all mediums are welcome to participate in the medium of their choice. Instructor Bio Pat Fiorello is a popular instructor who teaches in the  U. S. and Europe.  She is known for her romantic landscape, garden and floral paintings in both oil and watercolor. She is a Signature Member and Past President of the Georgia Watercolor Society. Pat’s paintings have been accepted into over 70-juried shows, featured in over a dozen one-woman shows and represented by several galleries in the Southeast.  Her work was featured in “Splash 11, The Best of Watercolor” recently published by North Light Books.  Pat has taught on location at Monet’s Garden in Giverny, France, in Tuscany and Northern Italy. Pat believes everyone can develop the skills to paint and experience the joy of art. Having learned herself as an adult, she has particular appreciation for adult learners, even total beginners, and provides a fun and supportive environment for learning. Visit www.patfiorello.com for more information.

Studying Still Life Oil Painting with Robert Johnson

 I am in a 3 day workshop studying oil painting with master artist Robert Johnson. I studied with him earlier this year and learned so much that I decided to work with him again to deepen my learning. It is good to study with different artists, but once you find someone whose approach and teaching style fit with you, it's a good idea to focus and go deeper with that teacher. I'll briefly share his approach here:

Still Life set up for demonstration

In the design phase, Robert starts our with a toned canvas and with one fairly neutral color( Transparent Oxid Red and Ultramarine Blue), he loosely places the big shapes, knowing that at this stage anything can easily be changed.

Next he wipes out the light areas and lays in the background and a wash for the rug color

He begins with the largest shapes and center of interest- the sugar bowl and red rose. During this phase he shifts his approach to lay in each brushtroke very deliberately to be descriptive. It's an "alla prima" approach where his intention is to put down a brushstroke and leave it so he is very carefully observing the shape, color, value, edges of each area he's painting and then using each brushstroke to describe that.

Here's the finished painting. (still wet on the easel, so ignore the clip on top) it certainly captures the set up, but is actually much more beautiful. It looks highly finished, but up close it is actually looser than it appears.

Robert is not only a wonderful artist who clearly has worked long and hard to develop his level of mastery, but is also a great teacher who generously shares his passion for art and learning. I plan to continue my studies with him in 2012.

 If you want to learn more about Robert Johnson's paintings, workshops, dvd's or beautiful book( one of my favorites) "On Becoming a Painter. visit his website Robert Johnson Art

Flower Study 7- Yellow and White Roses

Three Roses
Oil Painting on panel by Pat Fiorello
6 x 8
$200

This study was based on a photo I took at a rose garden in Atlanta a few years back,. Knew I wanted to paint it someday and today was finally the day.

Flower Study #6 Yellow Daisies

Today I decided to do a closer in study of just the flowers from the larger painting in study 5.

 Here is the study where I focused more on brushwork and a variety of yellows.

Flower Study #6
Oil Painting by Pat Fiorello
6 x8

$200

Here is the photo I  was working from, credited to Daniel Edmondson

Here is the first stage where I laid in the flower shapes with the darkest colors I saw, using transparent paints only.

Here is the next stage with the background laid in, again with transparent paints.

From this point, I  started adding more opaque colors to indicate light and shadow of the flowers and refine the shapes of the petals etc.. till I completed the painting with the first image noted above.

One last color chart: Terra Rosa

I decided to do one more chart on the color Terra Rosa. This is the last of the charts for now. Thanks for following along this month as I completed and shared these studies

I have this color paint but rarely think to ever pull it out so didn't know much about it's characteristics.  I thought this would be a great way to see what it can do:

It is opaque, kind of a combination of a Burnt Sienna with a touch of Permanent Rose- a little pinker than an Indian Red. It mixes up with the yellow well to create a nice range or terra cotta like colors( I guess hence the name terra rosa). Would be great for buildings, many of those European villages and architecture.  Very subtle with the pink and magenta and a nice neutral with Ultramarine Blue( next to last column)

The complete set of color studies is available on this blog, look in archives for July 2011. The first post was on July 1.

Color Study- Complementary Colors

While not part of the original color study exercise I did, I got inspired to do some other studies that would be helpful references to have on hand. This one has the basic 9 step value chart in black and white, and then 4 combinations of complements to get neutrals.


 The pairs I chose for this study were:

 Ultramarine (UB) and Transparent Oxide Red (TOR)
Permanent Mauve and Yellow Ochre
 Viridian and Permanenet Rose
 and Thalo Green and Alizarin

 I started with one of the pair right out of the tube at one end of the top row and the complementary color at the other end, then got a middle mixture ( middle column) and then skewed one version warmer and one cooler . Once I had the top line, I added white in rows below to get a couple of other values of each of the neutrals.

For example- the "T" on the upper left is
 Row 1 the 5 boxes are:   Pure Ultramarine, UB & TOR( skewed cooler) , the middle mixture of UB and TOR, a warmer mixture of the 2 and the pure Transparent  Oxide Red. Then I took the 3 mixtures and added white to each one to lighten in row 2 and then in the 3rd row added even more white for another lighter value of the same mixture. To get a range of temperatures and values of a neutral from each pair of complements.

 I repeated that same approach for the other 3 pairs of complements.

On the bottom of the page I tried 2 different combinations of red/ green. I learned that the Viridian was so weak in tinting power vs Permanent Rose it was hard to keep it greener( the pinker tones dominate). The Thalo Green/Alizarin combo on the right was easier to get colors that read more like true grays.

Oil Painting Color Charts - How to Mix Green

While not part of the original color studies- I thought it would be a good idea to learn more about options for mixing greens. There are so many possible combinations, it would be hard to get them all on 1 chart so I had to narrow them down. I also had to forgo adding white to the mixtures ( I tried dividing the squares but the 1 inch squares divided in two became too small to really get a good read on things.

This was a different set up than the other charts.

 Here I picked a range of greens and blues down the vertical axis and then mixed them white( column 2)  and then a range of warmer colors- yellows, oranges, reds on the horizontal axis.

 The colors I used were as follows:

Cadmium Green  Pale( Winsor & Newton)

Cinnabar Green Deep( Rembrandt)

Olive Green( Rembrandt)

Viridian(Holbein)

Pthalo Green (Gamblin)

Sevres Blue(Rembrandt)

Ultramarine Blue(Rembrandt)

Indigo(Winsor & Newton)

mixed with each of the following:

Titanium White( Lefranc)

Naples Yellow Light( Winsor & Newton)

Cadmium Lemon Yellow(Rembrandt)

Cadmium Yellow Pale( Winsor & Newton)

Cadmium Yellow Medium(Rembrandt)

Indian Yellow(Winsor & Newton)

Yellow Ochre( Winsor & Newton)

Cadmium Orange( Winsor & Newton)

Cadmium Red Light( Holbein)

Terra Rosa( Winsor & Newton)

Transparent Oxide Red( Rembrandt)

Generally, when mixed with yellows, the greens and blues yield  brighter, more springlike greens. When mixed with the oranges, reds, browns, you get more earthy, darker, rich greens. Also mixtures with Cadmium Lemon, Cadmium Yellow Pale and Cadmium Yellow Medium were not radically different so relax if you don't have the specific color you are looking for. You can get pretty close with some minor adjustments. A great array for landscape and floral paintings. However, I view this as a first cut on green, because I expect the addition of white to these mixtures will yield many options which may be subtler perhaps- more neutralized and a bit cooler. Thats' an experiment for another day.

For those interested in mixing greens in watercolor, I have a shot video posted on you tube.  Many of the pigments are the same, so similar principles apply.  Click on Painting Natural Greens in Watercolor

What I learned from doing the color charts Richard Schmid suggested

If you've been following my blog the past few weeks, you know I've been spending time this summer to hunkering down and doing the comprehensive color studies recommended by Richard Schmid, in his excellent book "Alla Prima" He did them over 40 years ago and feels they are invaluable learning tools.

 I  had always wanted to do them "someday", but the task seemed daunting. But while I had some time off this summer from teaching my regular painting classes, I commited to completing them.   I took it on as my own "Independent Study Color Intensive" to understand color mixing at a deeper and more "hands on" level than just knowledge about color theory.

I embarked on this with a little trepidation since it was a big undertaking, but I concentrated my efforts and completed the basic 13 charts and a couple of others I came up with which I thought would be helpful to adds ( i.e. neutrals and greens) in just one week.

In the archives of this blog for July 2011 ( listed in the right column) you can find past posts describing the process, how to get started, materials needed and my observations from each of the individual charts, but taken in total, there were some general learning that were also worthwhile.


 Here are the top 10:

10) I overcame my fear of white. Being trained initially as a watercolorist I never had to use white till I started painting in oils.  I considered it a "necessary evil"  that's only purpose was to lighten a color.  I tried to avoid white at all costs as some of my initial attempts at using it ended up chalky. Thru these charts, I quickly learned that some color combinations ( especially transparents)  need some white to give them body, covering power and make the color apparent.  Also white actually alters the color and temperature ( cools)  so it transforms colors, beyond merely lightening them. After mixing close to 1000 swatches including white, I  not only feel a lot more confident about using white, but see how vital white is. It really can create some wonderful nuanced tints of colors- which are especially evident in the bottom row of each chart( the one mixed with the most white)

9) I saw how harmonious each chart was since all 60 swatches on that page included some of the main color. Might be something to integrate more in my color choices in future paintings.

8) Gained speed in mixing colors and wielding a palette knife- Also appreciate how clean colors stay  when mixing with the knife. I typically switch between mixing with a brush or knife( depending on what I have in my hand or if I remembered to even take my knife out) , but I plan to use the knife more consciously and consistently. Also came up with a handy approach to use 2 knifes- one for  color and one for white to keep my pile of white paint totally unadulterated and pure.

7) Gained a greater ability to control value changes by having to mix multiple values of the same colors.

6) Gained a greater appreciation for the beauty of neutralized colors, especially the very high key tints.

5) It was very evident that color reads the strongest in the middle value range and most of the lightest lights looked very similar- in other words the hue distinctions were not as apparent in the lightest lights.

4) It doesn't take much to add a hint of color to white- so when going for the highest keys, start with white and add a touch till I get to the desired value and color.

3) Opaques tend to swallow up transparents

2) You really can mix most of the colors you buy from a few of the basics- over time I plan to cull down my supply of paint tubes .  If I run out of something like Yellow Ochre, I can mix a close substitute. Also discovered many color combinations that were beautiful that I would never have thought of mixing together- like Viridian and Magenta and White.

And the #1 thing I learned from the color studies...


1 ) There are truly endless color possibilities in each tube of paint!


 I can't deny it was a lot of work, but it was fun as a sense of  discovery and wonder would build, especially with combinations I was not as familiar with. "I wonder how this mixture will look?"
 I now have the best reference  book on color- once I created and experienced first hand. Last night I cleared a space in my studio to keep the book of colors out and available for use during painting sessions.

Now back to painting to apply what I've learned.

Color Charts #12 Viridian

Viridian is a useful color. It's bark is worse than it's bite. It looks very strong on it's own, but it has a very low tinting power ( especially when compared to the stronger thalo green which looks similar in hue but is much more stronger in mixes). Viridian adds a subtle green to it's mixing partners without overpowering. Its offers a way to neutralizing colors without altering them too much.

When combined with a little Cadmium Red, it produces an almost perfect grey. And I never would have thought of adding it to Magenta to get a lovely range of lavenders- but it works (column 9). I've concluded this is a very handy color to have on your palette.

 The Holbein brand of Viridian seems to be particularly rich- that's my favorite brand for this color.  Beware of paints labeled Viridian "hue". The notation "hue" on a paint label often indicates that the manufacturer has found substitutes to mix together to simulate the desired color. It can be similar (and is usually cheaper) but sometimes can be radically different. I've bought Cobalt Blue Hue before and it was more like a thalo blue than a true cobalt- so be careful with those "hues"

If this is your first visit to my blog, see the July 2011 Archives for other colors in this study. This is the last of the 12 basic color studies from the "official" color study plan, but this process prompted me to do a few other charts which I thought might be really useful, so stay tuned ( all will be posted by the end of July).

Color Charts #11 Ultramarine Blue

This is the chart for Ultramarine Blue.

I swear I wasn't drunk when I did this chart- but it does have a definite expansion towards the right. Guess I had slipped up on the taping after doing 12 charts.

The results from this study aren't much different from the Cobalt Blue chart- just darker and the color combinations are a bit warmer ( reflecting the slightly redder tone of Ultramarine Blue compared to Cobalt Blue). Hence the greens are slightly more neutralized, the oranges yield a colder brown and the pink & magenta columns( 8 & 9) are bluer lavenders than the more orchid like colors in the Cobalt Blue mixtures with those same colors. I'll repeat the Cobalt Blue chart here for comparison purposes.

If this is your first visit to my blog, see Archives for other colors in this study( there will be 12 in all) and stay tuned for the upcoming color studies.

Color Charts #10 Cobalt Blue

Here's the color chart on Cobalt Blue- mixed with the same array of colors as all the previous studies.

This entire chart is noticeably cooler and darker than the others so far which is no surprise since the base color, Cobalt Blue is cooler and darker in value than most of the other yellows, oranges and reds from all the previous charts. One of the interesting things to see is how the addition of Cobalt Blue to the yellows      (columns 2-5) makes their properties more evident.   For example, compare the mixture with Cadmium Lemon(column 2) to  the one with Cadmium Yellow Light (column 3). The green produced with Cadmium Lemon looks distinctly cooler (mixing a cool yellow with blue) versus the Cadmium Yellow Light  column which is a warmer yellow mixed with blue to produce a warm green.The 5th column mixed with Yellow Ochre Pale yields a very dull green, almost a grey, since Y.O.P. is more of a neutralized yellow compared to either of the Cadmiums.

If this is your first visit to my blog, see July 2011Archives for other colors in this study( there will be 12 in all) and stay tuned for the upcoming color studies.

Color Charts #9 Transparent Red Oxide

In watercolor, I could not  live without Burnt Sienna, but in oils I have discovered Transparent Oxide Red, which I prefer as it seems cleaner, more transparent, mixes beautifully with other colors as seen below:

Looks like if you don't have Yellow Ochre handy, you can approximate it with T.O. R and yellow.
Also can get some rich darks and warm neutrals, taupes, especially when mixed with other darks like the blues or greens plus white.

If this is your first visit to my blog, see July Archives for other colors in this study ( there will be 12  plus a couple of bonus ideas).

Color Charts #8 Magenta

Here's the chart for Magenta:

This was not a color included in the Richard Schmid book "Alla Prima" describing how he did these color charts, but I  recently was introduced to this color in a painting workshop and realized how infrequently I include red violet in my work and how useful it can be, so I intentionally included a study of this one to get to know it more.

 First surprise- its transparent. It's not overpowering, just tints other colors. Created some great neutrals when mixed with the yellows (columns 2-5), coral when mixed with orange, amazing color - perfect for orchids, mixed on it's own with white (column 1- look at row 3 & 4), rich rosy pinks with Permanent Rose    (column 8) and gorgeous range of lilacs and lavenders when mixed with Cobalt Blue and Ultramarine Blue     (column 10 & 11), even pretty mixed with Viridian green (last column).

 Very versatile mixer.  I'm definitely adding this color to my regular palette.

If this is your first visit to my blog, see Archives for other colors in this study( there will be 12 in all) and stay tuned for the upcoming color studies. The full listing for colors mixed is in the blog post earlier this month- click on Color charts- How to get started

Color Charts #7 Permanent Rose

This is one of my favorite charts of all:

Fabulous colors for flowers- pinks, roses, lavenders, lilacs- look what it does with blues and white

 ( columns 10 & 11 are with cobalt blue and ultramarine blue respectively)

Transparent, but holds it's own pretty well in terms of tinting power.

While it's easy to use Permanent Rose right out of the tube with white to get a pink, the addition of a small amount of a neighboring color on the color wheel( like Indian Yellow or Cadmium Red) can produce some even richer, warmer pinks- ideal for flowers.

 I much prefer Permanent Rose to Alizarin since it is equally as transparent,  it's permanent and yields some more subtle pinks than I seem to get with Alizarin. Alizarin is darker and very strong to stand up against other powerful pigments like thalo green so it's useful too, but if I could only have one I'd take Permanent Rose.

If this is your first visit to my blog, see Archives for other colors in this study( there will be 12 in all) and stay tuned for the upcoming color studies.

Color Chart #6 Cadmium Red Medium

Here's the latest in the color chart studies, Cadmium Red Medium:

 

 Like Cadmium Orange, Cadmium Red Medium also has a strong tinting power. It's amazing  the number of subtle distinctions of red and pink that can come from this one paint mixed with just about anything.
Will definitely be pulling out this chart for my rose paintings.

If this is your first visit to my blog, see Archives for other colors in this study (there will be 12 in all) and stay tuned for the upcoming color studies.

Color Charts #5 Cadmium Orange

Wow- Cadmium Orange seems the strongest so far in tinting power, that is, not being influenced much by  the other colors it's mixed with.  It produced a beautiful array or warm oranges- great for flowers. In this chart I mixed Cadmium Orange with some of each of the same 12 colors I've been using every day in this exercise and it's amazing that even the darker colors like Magenta or Ultramarine blue really can't stand up to the power of Cad. Orange.


But notice compared with even another Cadmium- like Cadmium Yellow Light(  repeating chart 2 from a few days ago below)

that the Cad. Orange retained it's hue pretty much regardless of what I mixed it with while the Cad Yellow was more influenced by the color mixed into it.  Good to remember- a little Cadmium Orange goes along way.

If this is your first visit to my blog, see Archives for other colors in this study( there will be 12 in all) and stay tuned for the upcoming color studies.

Color Charts #4 Yellow Ochre Pale

Here's chart #4- Yellow Ochre Pale- Distinctly different from the other yellows tested as this yellow is less pure and less intense(more neutralized) compared to Cadmium Lemon and Cadmium Yellow Light and even Indian Yellow.

This color is not one of my personal favorites to use on it's own, but one thing that struck me is how  harmonious this chart is. Since every swatch has a bit of yellow ochre pale in it, they all relate beautifully to one another. I started imagining doing paintings that had one color mixed in every other color and thinking how automatically harmonized they might be (and maybe throw in one complement for contrast??)

After completing 4 charts so far, I can see that harmony in each chart- but this one was particularly obvious.

Also  Yellow Ochre Pale yields some really nice neutrals in the highest key( bottom row is mixed with a lot of white) that would be great for backgrounds in some of my floral still lives where I might not want the traditional classic stlye dark background.

If this is your first visit to my blog, see theArchives( right column) for other colors in this study (there will be 12 in all) and stay tuned for the upcoming color studies.