Finding Yourself in Liminal Space
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Life must have its sacred moments and its holy places. We need the infinite, the limitless, the uttermost - all that can give the heart a deep and strengthening peace. - A. Powell Davies
There is a sacred pause, a holy moment between action and reaction, crisis and response. This tiny gap holds an entire universe of possibilities within it. It is a space of transition from one state of being to another where you are neither here nor there, you are not who you were and neither are you who you will be next.
The Romans called this “liminal” space, a threshold between now and then, here and there. Just as time is made up of day and night, and a song is made up of music and silence, so are our lives made of joy and sorrow, birth, death, and rebirth. In many traditional cultures, thresholds are considered magical spaces where traditional rules do not apply.
Being in a liminal space can be incredibly uncomfortable for most people. Our brain craves homeostasis and predictability, and liminal space is everything but. Our minds race to make something out of nothing. Being human, we tend to fill these spaces with worry or imagine the silence as some form of punishment, or we internalize the time we are not in touch with a loved one as some unexpressed change of heart. In uncertain circumstances, we tend to focus hard, think through solutions, and control outcomes. This often leads to feelings of panic, stress, and overwhelm.
Relaxing into uncertainty, on the other hand, switches on the superpower of human imagination. It takes us from terrified confusion into openness, curiosity, and most of all, creativity.
Creativity is the cure for the uncertainty and overwhelm of a liminal time. The parts of the brain involved in creativity aren’t prone to fear, so as we enter a creative mindset, we feel stronger and happier. We may end up becoming fascinated with what’s happening. We may begin to deal with our situations the way children deal with new toys, taking stock of them, trying out new things, and enjoying the entire process… in a word, playing.
If you’re going through a liminal time, try this. First let yourself worry, obsess, and think about any problems facing you. Then, drop the whole subject and do something relaxing. Pet your cat, paint a picture, bake a cake, take a walk, make yourself a paper hat—anything that helps you feel at ease.
This pattern of action (thinking intensely about a difficult situation, then relaxing) programs our brains to come up with creative solutions. Puzzling about a problem primes our brain to seek creative solutions.
Following this effort with a period of relaxation or play, the brain keeps working on the problem without us even noticing. When we’re least expecting it, a brilliant solution may pop into our minds. Psychologists call this “the Eureka effect” (“eureka” is Greek for “I’ve got it!”).
This is how human beings have invented everything from shoes to spaceships. We aren’t as strong or fast as many animals, but we can use difficult situations to create new ideas like no other creatures on earth. And often, the more difficult our circumstances, the more brilliant our ideas.
A falling apple prompted physicist Isaac Newton to formulate his laws of gravity. Greek polymath Archimedes took a bath and figured out how to calculate volume and density. These are iconic “light bulb” moments in the history of science.
Both stories about Newton and Archimedes speak to the need to quiet the mind and be contemplative. Also, the putting together of disparate things—a falling apple and gravity, an overflowing bathtub, and specific gravity tells us that creativity needs liminal space to thrive.
Actor John Cleese likens creativity to a tortoise. There’s an idea. The tortoise gently comes out of its shell, looks around, and if you say, Oh, that’s stupid. I don’t have time, back it goes. But if you give it liminal space for contemplative thinking and you give it the time, it grows.
As a creative person, you probably recognize this pattern and maybe you already know how to jump from worry to wonder.
Liminal space is the uncertain transition between where you've been and where you're going physically, emotionally, or metaphorically. To be in a liminal space means to be on the precipice of something new but not quite there yet.
Physical liminal spaces are an aesthetic in their own right. Consider how liminal spaces are employed in architecture, a beautiful atrium in a museum's entryway, a glorious bridge across a river, or a staircase. A staircase takes you from one floor to another, and you often don’t think twice about your time on a staircase. But what if you get stuck in an enclosed stairwell? Then, visions of horror movies might start racing through your head. But a staircase can also be a grand entryway, a decorative spiral that leads you from one experience to another.
Watch how architects compress and expand space and how they use decoration, and simplification, light, and darkness to affect your experience of these spaces.
As you walk through the world around you notice how architects employ liminal space to amplify the experience they create for you. Hotels, airports, train stations, cruise ports, ships, trains, subways, busses, and gas stations are all liminal spaces that are transition points between one place and another.
An emotional liminal space is a transitionary period. Many look like endings, and to some degree, they are as they divide our lives into pre-divorce and post-divorce, pre-graduation and post-graduation, for example. In the aftermath of one of these events, one door slams shut, and you’re not yet sure where or when the next door will open. We encounter many different emotional liminal pauses during our lives, such as moving, the death of a loved one, illness, job changes, financial changes, etc. Some are longer and harder than others but by definition, liminality has a beginning and an end point.
Liminality can also be an in-between state of mind such as when you are half asleep, half awake, in meditation, lost in thought, engrossed in a story, or when waiting for someone to arrive or a new adventure to begin.
Metaphorically, a liminal space exists any time you vacillate between two ideas. A trapeze makes an excellent metaphor for this. Once you jump off the platform, you swing through the air, waiting to transition from where you came from to where you are going.
There are many ways artists use liminal space to create their work.
Look at these Edward Hopper paintings and notice how he employs liminal space to create a feeling of isolation. The gas station is nowhere and everywhere at the same time. The anonymous spaces of the automat and the movie theater are at once familiar and unfamiliar. You are never quite sure where you are in a Hopper painting, it looks like somewhere you know, and yet it has a dreamlike quality.
Surrealists Giorgio de Chirico and Salvador Dali use recognizable touchstones and landmarks in a space usually devoid of humans. Rene Magritte is another artist whose subliminal spaces feel dreamlike as their features are recognizable to the conscious mind but not quite understood by it.
Surrealists Giorgio de Chirico and Salvador Dali use recognizable touchstones and landmarks in a space usually devoid of humans. Rene Magritte is another artist whose subliminal spaces feel dreamlike as their features are recognizable to the conscious mind but not quite understood by it.
Hanging out in a liminal space is one of the greatest pleasures of creating abstract art. Creating art this way reverses the creative process by engaging the subconscious mind first and employing the problem-solving, conscious brain at the end.
Nonrepresentational abstract art starts with a white space where all possibilities are present and nothing is planned. The artist begins making marks and then stopping for extended periods of looking to see what wants to come forth on the canvas.
The canvas or paper becomes a transitional/liminal space where nothing exists for a long period of time until the series of marks, swipes, and splashes eventually resolve into a painting.
This process is the antithesis of planning and preparing and that is what makes it so rewarding. The artist must fully engage both sides of the brain. The loose experimental creative side begins the dance and the controlling, organizing side responds. It feels risky, dangerous, and playful all at the same time.
The creation of anything new begins with the disruption of the existing order. The known self you recreate from your daily habits and routines has to disappear for a new transformation to appear.
I used the month of June to create a liminal space of rest and healing for myself. My active creative self paused the busy-ness and spent the month in introspection, sleep, reading, watching romance movies, and collecting mangoes… I’ll be back out in the world in July, visiting Washington, DC, for a Joe Dispenza transformational retreat and bringing my newest paintings to the Old Sculpin Gallery on Martha’s Vineyard. If you plan to be in either place in July please reach out and let’s get together for coffee and a gallery tour.
Whether you’re an established artist seeking new horizons or a budding creative looking to elevate your work I hope I have given you some doorways you can use to access your expanded artistic potential. Should you find yourself in a liminal space consider the importance of appreciating the present moment in relation to where you have been and where you are going. If you would like my mentorship, guidance, and advice in exploring your own artistic path please reach out to me. It makes me happy to share my insights and my knowledge with you.
If someone shared this newsletter with you and you'd like to subscribe, please reach out to me below with your email address. I promise, no spam, no overloading your inbox, just the good stuff.
I welcome the opportunity for connection, conversation, cooperation, collaboration, and commissions.
With Light and Delight
Susan
If you'd like to read this post in its original format with all the illustrations and links please follow this link: https://conta.cc/3X3gk7d
When looking at the road ahead which do you choose - the long winding by-way with the great scenery or the fastest, most direct highway? Do you have a destination or drive without a map?
Is there a reason you prefer one type of road over the other?
What story do you tell yourself about it? Can you remember where you first heard this story? Was it at school, at home, or did you learn it from experience?
Can you question your belief to see if it’s still true?
When traveling do you plan every moment or do you arrive with no plans and wait to see what happens? Do you judge others for making the opposite choice?
Our culture values hard work and struggle. A person who practices for hours, sweats, and works late gets more credit than the one who produces the same product with apparent ease. This is one reason why so many artgoers prefer traditional old master paintings to modern abstract artists. The skill and the work are both apparent.
For years I bought into the idea that anything worth having came through hard work and suffering. For my art to have value I needed to be doing something so difficult, so challenging that everyone looking at it would be impressed by my skill and perseverance. I fell into the rut that choosing an easier way of making art meant I was “cheating”, as though a teacher or judge was waiting to evaluate me and find me lacking.
Do you do this too?
When you judge yourself as an artist is this where you are most critical of yourself? Do you feel like you haven’t done (fill in the blank) enough to qualify as an artist?
Judgment is as pervasive in the art world as it is everywhere else. I find it in the competition prospectuses I read and in the apologies written by online teachers who are criticized for sharing an easier way to do something.
Constraints, provide focus and a creative challenge that motivates people to search for and connect information from different sources to generate novel ideas. I believe constraints enhance creativity, but transparent watercolor is not inherently superior to opaque watercolor, oil paint is not “better” than acrylic, and art created in the most difficult way possible, is not more deserving of an award or display than more expressive compositions.
On vacation, I choose my routes by starting with these four questions:
“Where am I going?”. Knowing where I would like to end up provides a meaningful way to evaluate the various modes of transportation that will take me there.
The second question is “Why am I going there?”. When traveling for business efficiency matters, for vacation enjoyment novelty and beauty weigh more heavily.
The next question, “Who is going?” further narrows my choices. Group and family travel constrains my choices with considerations outside my control.
The fourth question “When do I need to arrive?” helps to narrow down the remaining available selections. I wouldn’t walk the Camino de Santiago for speed, the Camino is about the journey.
Likewise, when you judge and create art it's important to ask the same four questions.
“Where am I going?” is all about the destination. When you sit down to create a sculpture you will need different materials and tools than when you decide to paint a beautiful flower in your garden. Public art serves a different purpose than protest art.
“Why am I going there?” is an even more important question. Are you creating art to earn money, for a competition, for a class project, for enjoyment, or to combat stress? Are you creating because you enjoy solving difficult problems, or because painting makes you joyful?
“Who is going?” determines who you need to satisfy for your project to be considered successful. Pleasing yourself is very different from pleasing a judge, teacher, or client.
“When do I need to arrive?” will determine your choices regarding efficiency and productivity vs. meaning. With no deadline, you are free to take your time and meander through your creative process without a map for meaning.
Having answers to these four questions makes it easy to select your road. Once you know why you create art you can decide whether to explore on your own, hire a guide, or join a group. The long and meaningful path becomes a great pleasure and a speedy shortcut is no sacrifice when you know why you chose it.
Creating in any medium is an antidote to stress and depression. When you create for the simple joy of it, not for money, or work you tap into a powerful right brain source that leads to innovative problem-solving, a sense of meaning and purpose, and a joyful, intimate connection with others—and with the world. When you are in this creativity zone anxiety evaporates.
Knowing why you create makes the entire creative process more enjoyable and satisfying and will keep you from judging others who employ different criteria.
I gave up suffering and difficulty as my yardstick for success and now measure my work by how much fun it is to create.
I want my students to feel so good about their art that they look forward to their next opportunity to paint and feel fulfilled by each art experience. This does not mean that we take on easy projects. Challenge and problem-solving can be incredibly satisfying as long as the obstacles are not overwhelming.
In the 1930’s Soviet psychologist and social constructivist, Lev Vygotsky (1896 – 1934) introduced a radical new idea to teaching that he called “the zone of proximal development (ZPD)”. Vygotsky believed that when a student is in the zone of proximal development for a particular task, providing appropriate assistance will give the student enough of a “boost” to achieve the task. Social interactions with a skillful tutor allow learners to observe and improve their skills.
The zone of proximal growth breaks large and difficult learning into small achievable challenges until the student is ready to take on the entire task alone. Sometimes the size of the goal becomes like a tall mountain that appears impossible to scale so students give up after the first sign of failure.
Good teachers build confidence
and
confidence builds engagement.
Teachers help their students reach previously unattainable goals by stretching themselves a little bit at a time.
In music you start practicing with scales, then simple pieces of music adding more and more complexity a bit at a time until your practice becomes masterful.
Hiring a mentor who spends time with you is a shortcut that allows you to move forward faster. There is no more efficient way to learn than having someone who knows how to do the thing you desire to learn support you in your process and make it easier for you to take over on your own
Drawing is the biggest obstacle for the majority of my students. Drawing is a skill that takes a long time and a lot of practice and failure to learn. I once did a portrait on commission and put at least 20 hours into my painting before I noticed that the eyes were crooked and one arm was too long. There is no amount of beautiful paint handling and no color technique that will forgive a bad drawing.
Today I am going to share with you some of the scaffolds and shortcuts I use to help my students train their drawing abilities or work around them. Most were developed to help me in my own learning. If you believe the long and hard way to do something is always best and a shortcut will always take you where you don’t want to go, you can stop reading now.
I use these shortcuts as scaffolds in my teaching to help my students paint realistic landscapes, birds, florals, and portraits of their children, grandchildren, and pets when their drawing skills hold them back. After a year or so, the scaffolding becomes an obstacle and my students often draw and paint without them.
Scaffold for Inspiration - Pinterest
Whenever I am blocked for ideas I go to Pinterest for inspiration. Pinterest wandering is visual snacking and a half hour exploring there invariably provides me with dozens of inspiring suggestions for my next artwork. I can get lost for hours in all the art other artists create. Each image has links below it to similar images so follow your imaginary rabbits down their rabbit holes and see where they take you. Start by typing in some constraints for your next piece, and see what appears.
Take a look at some of the idea boards I created for projects I plan to teach or paint someday. I have one entire board just for Red Riding Hood. The variety of ways this simple story can be told in a single image never fails to get me going.
Scaffold for Inspiration - AI
The newest AI art generators translate your written prompts into visual images you can customize and fine-tune endlessly. You do not need any drawing ability to experiment with wild ideas, try new styles, or create fantastical landscapes, portraits, and even abstract art. Most of these new image generators are free making digital art accessible to everyone, eroding economic barriers.
Experiment with this digital medium to "play" with your ideas. AI will allow you to add complexity that you might not be able to generate on your own. If you are creating art to counter stress this is a wonderful medium that you can use anywhere you have access to the internet.
Scaffold for Focus - Binaural Beats
This is the fastest way I know to get into the creativity "zone".
Binaural beats are a form of auditory stimulation that can help boost productivity and performance at work. They influence brainwave activity to help achieve different mental states. Here's how binaural beats work and how you can utilize them to improve concentration and focus in the workplace.
Binaural beats are created when headphones play two slightly different tones in each ear. For example, if you hear a tone of 200 Hz in your left ear and a tone of 210 Hz in your right ear, your brain will perceive a third tone of 10 Hz, which is the difference between the two tones. This third tone is called a binaural beat.
Binaural beats affect your brainwave activity by training it to match the frequencies you hear. Brainwaves are patterns of electrical activity in your brain that can reflect your concentration levels. There are five main types of brainwaves: gamma, beta, alpha, theta, and delta. Each corresponds to a different mental state, ranging from high-energy and focused to relaxed and sleepy.
Different frequencies of binaural beats can induce other brainwave states. For example, binaural beats in the 1-4 Hz range can stimulate delta waves associated with deep sleep and healing. A study by Front Psychiatry proves that the delta frequency range helps with about a 26.3% decline in anxiety scores.
Binaural beats in the 4-8 Hz range can produce theta waves associated with creativity, intuition, and meditation. Binaural beats in the 8-13 Hz range can stimulate alpha waves associated with relaxation, calmness, and learning. Binaural beats in the 13-30 Hz field can produce beta waves associated with concentration, alertness, and problem-solving.
Those in the 30-100 Hz range can stimulate gamma waves associated with peak performance, memory, and cognition. One study by Frontiers Media backs that claim, proving that binaural beats in the gamma range impact the cognitive control state.
I use Binaural beats for writing these newsletters and whenever I need to concentrate for extended periods. I recommend them to my students with attention and processing issues.
Scaffold for Drawing #1 - Proportional Grid
The proportional grid method allows you to transfer any two-dimensional image onto a larger or smaller surface without worrying about complex math ratios, or calculators.
Measure your resource image and find the relationship of the short side to the long side. A typical photograph is 4x6, 5x7 or 8x10. Divide your reference image into 16 equal squares using the X Plus Diamond method shown above.
Step 1 - Draw a line from the top left corner of your resource image to the bottom right corner. Add another line from the top right corner of the image to the bottom left corner. Where they cross is the center point of your image.
Step 2 - Use a T-Square to draw a vertical line through the center of the "X". Then draw a horizontal line through the center of the "X". You should now have 4 boxes of the same proportions (relationship of the long to the short side) as the resource image.
Step 3 - Use a ruler to draw a diagonal line that connects the top of the vertical axis to the horizontal axis. Use your ruler to connect all 4 sides of this "diamond" shape. You should now have 4 boxes each with an "X" in the center.
Step 4 - Use a T-Square to draw horizontal lines through the center of two "X"s in the top and bottom row. Then draw vertical lines through the center of the two "X"s in the left and right columns. You should now have 16 boxes of the same proportions as the resource image.
Measure your destination surface and draw a box onto it that has the same relationship of the short side to the long side. Let's say your resource image is 4x6. Then your larger image could be 8x12 (twice 4x6), 12x18 (3 times 4x6), 16x24 (4 times 4x6), or 20x30 (5 times 4x6), and so on indefinitely. Once you have your large proportional box use the X Plus Diamond Method to draw a grid of 16 squares. Both the resource and the destination image should have the same number and shape of grid squares.
The blocks divide your original complex scene into smaller bite-size chunks making it a lot easier to judge the positioning of the (out)lines inside each block.
The beauty of this method is that you can further cross in (draw an X) inside a single box in your detail areas and you only needed to do math one time at the start!
This scaffold is very useful in creating accurate drawings and training hand-eye coordination.
Scaffold for Drawing #2 - Projection
Using a projector to trace art is more than a shortcut; it’s a gateway to unlocking your artistic potential. Projecting and tracing not only gives an advantage to those who struggle with drawing, but it also saves time! You can use projectors to trace onto wood, fabric, walls, glass, and more. The key is to ensure that the surface is flat and stable and the projector can be positioned at an appropriate angle for accurate tracing. Fusing traditional craftsmanship and modern technology can lead to extraordinary creations that captivate and inspire. So, whether you’re an established artist seeking new horizons or a budding creative looking to elevate your work, embrace the magic of projectors and let your imagination soar.
Step 1. Set Up Your Projector
Place your projector on a stable surface, at the right distance and angle to project onto your working surface. Check to see if it’s connected to a power source and any device (like a laptop) containing your artwork.
Step 2. Prepare Your Resource image
Ensure your source photograph or sketch is in digital format. Adjust the image’s brightness, contrast, and color settings to achieve the desired clarity and contrast.
Step 3. Position Your Surface
Place your canvas or paper on the surface where you want to transfer the image. Too much of an angle will distort your image. Make sure it’s flat and stable. You can secure it in place to prevent any accidental shifts during tracing.
Step 4. Project Your Art
Turn on the projector and adjust its focus, size, and position until the image covers your canvas or paper. Play with the settings until you achieve the perfect alignment.
Step 5. Trace With Precision
Now comes the fun part – start tracing! Use a pencil, pen, or any desired medium to follow the projected lines and shapes onto your surface. Take your time to ensure accuracy and detail.
Step 6. Add Your Personal Touch
While tracing, don’t hesitate to add your unique flair and creativity. Adjust details, experiment with colors, or even modify the original design to make it your own.
Step 7. Fine-Tune And Finish
Once you’ve traced the entire image, turn off the projector, and allow your artwork to dry if necessary. Now, it’s time to refine and enhance your traced art. Add shading, highlights, and additional details to make it yours.
Scaffold for Drawing #3 - Lightbox:
A lightbox is a tool, just like pencils and pens. If it makes things easier for you, use it! Lightboxes can quickly improve your drawing process and allow you to make fewer mistakes. Not only does a lightbox help you trace your image or copy and refine previous drawings, but it also improves muscle memory. Lightboxes are kid-friendly since it’s much easier for a small child to learn to draw by tracing on top of a previous drawing.
Many calligraphy and lettering artists use light boxes to improve their work and perfect small aspects of it. I love using lettering in my work and it would be almost impossible to keep my lines straight and the kerning correct without a lightbox. Animators also rely on lightboxes to accurately draw frame-to-frame changes. The lightbox allows them to view the previous frame while developing a new one.
I use a lightbox to combine images - add a bird or bug to a flower or a boat to a landscape. They also make it easier for me to correct my mistakes and start over or flip my image when a drawing is headed in the wrong direction.
If you already have images painted, but you want to experiment with different styles of coloring or you want to make a “color this image” assignment for your kids, a lightbox will be very helpful. Just grab a base drawing, trace the outline of the image, and have fun coloring it! A lightbox is also very helpful when you practice new styles and techniques.
The price of light boxes has dropped tremendously.
For example, the LITENERGY A4 costs around 15 to 20$ (click to check the price on Amazon), it has an adjustable light and is very lightweight!
If that’s out of your budget or you just want to Do It Yourself, then here’s how you can make your own drawing lightbox.
Get a transparent container. Anything will do as long as it’s clear on the top. Storage containers usually work very well with this since they are transparent and have a rectangular shape.
Put some portable lights or a lamp inside the container! You’ll need a light source so you can see through the original drawing.
You’re done! Just turn the lights on, close the container, put the base drawing on top and then a sheet of paper for you to trace over it.
Scaffold for Drawing #4 - Photoshop Digital Tracing
You can turn a photo into a coloring book image for tracing using Photoshop. This one takes a little more time and doesn't work with every photo, but when it does work it's a huge time saver.
Step 1. Choose a Photo
Take a photo of your child or you. It is preferable to start with simpler shots with a solid background, or in which the main subject strongly contrasts with the background.
Step 2. Upload the Photo to the Image Editor
It doesn't matter which editor you use to make a coloring book; just make sure it has the Layers function, as well as tools for painting, retouching, and color correction. I use Photoshop for many things but I suggest you try Online Photoshop Editor. It's free, runs in a browser, and has many powerful tools.
Step 3. Duplicate a Layer
Duplicate a layer in the Layer window by right-clicking on and choosing Duplicate Layer. If you don't have the Layer window, go to Window - Layers. You can also just drag the layer to the New Layer icon at the bottom and it will be duplicated.
Step 4. Make the Photo Black and White
Similar to other methods of creating a coloring book, you need to remove colors from the photo. To do this, click on Image > Adjustments > Black & White.
Step 5. Invert the New Layer
At this stage, you will turn the new layer into a negative of the original photo. You can do this by selecting Image - Adjustment - Inverted.
Step 6. Adjust the Filter
Your photo probably looks very strange now, but don’t worry. It is inverted. Now, you need to apply a filter that will preserve only the outlines of the photo and remove the details and color. Go to Filter – Filter Gallery select "Glowing Lines" and adjust the Line Width and Edge Brightness sliders until you are satisfied with the image.
Step 7. Invert Layer
Turn the new layer back to black lines on a white background by by selecting Image - Adjustment - Inverted.
Step 8. Final Stage. Setting Layers
Open Image – Adjustments – Levels and drag the sliders until the photo looks like a coloring book.
Scaffold for Drawing #5 - Enlarging and Transfering your Drawing
Once I am satisfied with my drawing, it's time to transfer it to the final support. I generally work out my sketches on 8 1/2" x 11" sheets of tracing paper. Working small helps me pay attention to how the larger shapes relate and I keep myself from getting overinvolved in the details. I calculate how much larger I need my final drawing to be using a proportional scale. The FedEx office near me has a large format printer that can enlarge my work to the size of a full sheet of watercolor paper for about $5. Alternatively, you could use BlockPosters.com free service to slice your enlarged image into printer paper size blocks that you can tape together yourself. Upload an image, choose your options and then download and print out your own enlarged version of your drawing.
I correct any errors, straighten lines and add detail that will enhance the final artwork on the enlarged printout of my small sketch. When I am ready to transfer my image onto the final paper or canvas I place a reusable sheet of graphite paper between my enlarged copy and my watercolor paper. I tape my enlarged printout securely to my watercolor paper so it won't slip while I am working. I leave two sides open so I can slide my graphite paper around as needed.
Watercolor paper is fibrous so it catches on the pencil and erasing damages the sizing in the paper. This method ensures that I get my underdrawing correct on the first shot. The graphite marks can be erased to some extent and the sheet of graphite paper can be moved around under the cover sheet so one sheet of graphite paper is enough for a full sheet of watercolor paper.
Shouldn't we celebrate taking the shortcut if there is a way to do something important more easily and more efficiently? Shouldn't we encourage working without a map if the long road has more meaningful connections? Why we create is more important than how we create. Choose your road and let others travel the way that suits them best.
Creating art should be serious FUN. FUN is an acronym that stands for Fulfillment, Uniqueness, and Next. Artists should be fulfilled by their work. Embrace your special and unique magic and let your imagination soar! Seize new ground, keep growing, and try something new.
Whether you’re an established artist seeking new horizons or a budding creative looking to elevate your work I hope I have given you some pathways to unlock your artistic potential even when the going gets tough. If you struggle with drawing feel free to use the scaffolds and shortcuts to practice and build your drawing confidence. If you would like my mentorship, guidance, and advice in finding your own personal path please reach out to me. It makes me happy to share my insights and my knowledge with you.
If someone shared this newsletter with you and you'd like to subscribe, please reach out to me below with your email address. I promise, no spam, no overloading your inbox, just the good stuff.
I welcome the opportunity for connection, conversation, cooperation, collaboration, and commissions.
With Light and Delight
Susan
If you'd like to read this article in its original format along with all of the accompanying illustrations please follow this link:
Now I've heard there was a secret chord
That David played, and it pleased the Lord
- Leonard Cohen
Of all the tools available to a painter, none is more exciting or evocative than color. Color conveys the illusion of light and shadow, mood, and can suggest atmosphere or space.
Like playing the violin or writing haiku poetry harmonic color is a skill you acquire only through study and practice.
Think of your palette as an instrument, with each color representing a different note on the keyboard. A painter with an understanding of color relationships and color moods can play visual music without needing to think about the technical aspects of the colors. Many painters simply and confidently play the visual chords, major or minor, and lose themselves in self-expression.
Raised in a musical family, the artist Paul Klee was fascinated by the structural similarities between music and art. Klee’s painting above “In the Style of Bach” reimagines a musical score as an arrangement of graphic symbols like foliage, a crescent moon, and stars.
Many scientists and artists have diligently and unsuccessfully explored the synesthetic relationship between music and color hoping to match each color with a sound. Even Vincent Van Gogh started piano lessons in 1885 in an attempt to link color with notes and chords. His teacher soon became tired of his continual comparisons and dismissed him.
Vincent Van Gogh is renowned for his exciting and masterful expressionistic use of color. Van Gogh was introduced to the Impressionists and color theory relatively late in his short life. The paintings he created before he went to Paris and saw Impressionist paintings, were dark and somber.
In the last two years of his life, Van Gogh’s work exploded with color. He did close to ninety percent of his total work during this time. He had a passion for color chords. He said “There is no blue without yellow and without orange”
Color Harmonies/ Color Chords
Let’s look at some paintings made of specific color chords. Below are famous paintings that feel very colorful yet each of these artworks limits the colors to just a few important color notes. Many of the neutrals you see are made by mixing the dominant hues. I've made a note below each one listing the colors included and what's left out of the painting.
Beginning Artists do this:
If your early experiences were anything like mine most of what you first learned about color and color mixing involved buying large quantities of paint. As a beginning artist in love with color, I was entranced by all the possible colors I could use and I put as many of them as possible into every painting. As you can imagine, my paintings often resembled a fruit salad or a circus - with all the intensely chromatic shapes competing loudly for attention. It took a long time for me to recognize that color is like music and by limiting my palette, and organizing my colors into chords my paintings are more appealing and color-filled.
Most beginning painters see only flat local colors because they don't yet recognize how their perceptual systems influence what they see. My early color choices were based almost entirely on the local color of my subject. If a tree was brown, I painted it brown and didn’t think much more about it.
Once you understand how the mind perceives color, you can better select the “right” paint mix for everything you paint. You are probably unaware of how your mind adjusts and interprets colors for you every time the light changes. It is quite a challenge to break through this perception to view the color as it is. It helps to understand that the color you're looking at is a consequence of four color factors:
1. The local color (or surface color) of the object.
2. The relative color of the light shining on it.
3. The relative amount of light shining on it.
4. The quality of atmosphere between the observer and the object.
You have to mentally combine all those factors to determine the actual color you want to mix for that paint stroke.
This video does a great job explaining the very difficult subject of color perception in a very short time.
The Importance of Constraints
Constraints, provide focus and a creative challenge that motivates people to search for and connect information from different sources to generate novel ideas.
Music is composed of variations on a limited series of notes and chords. Writers play with self-limiting challenges. E.V. Wright wrote the 1939 novel "Gadsby" without using the letter "e." Here's an excerpt: "Now, any author, from history's dawn, always had that most important aid to writing:—an ability to call upon any word in his dictionary in building up his story. That is, our strict laws as to word construction did not block his path. But in my story that mighty obstruction will constantly stand in my path; for many an important, common word I cannot adopt, owing to its orthography." Other examples of constrained writing are sonnets, limericks, and haiku. All thrive within strict limitations of form and meter.
More notes don't make better music and more colors don’t make a better color scheme. The opposite is usually true.
The next time you go to an art museum or attend a painting exhibition, look closely at each work and note the percentage of gray, semi-neutral, and pure-hue colors. Unless the paintings are op-art or Abstract Expressionist, most have only five to ten percent pure color. The rest of the work will be an arrangement of semi-neutral and gray colors that set off the pure hues to their best advantage. The right grays make pure-hue colors “sing”.
Every color, including gray, varies depending on the colors next to it (see my newsletter Complements - A Love Story) Depending on how you organize your neutrals and grays, you can make the color dance throughout the painting.
Old Masters used limited palettes by default because they couldn’t get the range of pigments we have now. It was a common practice to paint the whole subject in brown or gray tones and then brush a thin film of color over it to conserve expensive pigments that they had to process by themselves.
Mixing Colors
Most of us first learned about mixing colors by studying the color wheel. The color wheel is a circle of 12 hues derived from the pure range of colors of the light spectrum produced when light is refracted.
On a traditional color wheel for mixing paint we have three primary hues - red, yellow, and blue. Three secondary hues are made by mixing the primaries - orange, green, and violet and the six intermediate (tertiary) hues sit between each secondary and primary hue on the wheel - red-violet, red-orange, yellow-orange, yellow-green, blue-green, blue-violet.
In the vocabulary of color hue is the name of the color, intensity or saturation is the amount of pigment in the color and value is the measure of lightness or darkness of the color.
All colors have tints and shades. Tints are lighter values of colors made by adding white to oil or acrylic paint or water to watercolor paint. Shades are darker values of colors made by adding black or complements (the color on the opposite side of the color wheel) to oil or acrylic paint and by adding less water and/or complements to watercolor paint.
Neutral colors - are muddied or grayed down. Some come that way straight from the tube. Anything that contains earth minerals is usually going to be muddy, opaque, and dark.
The intensity (saturation) of a pure color can be reduced without muddying the color by adding some complementary color to the mix.
Notice the beautiful grays produced by mixing the complementary watercolors below.
Mixing tips:
Mixing colors becomes even more important when you limit yourself to creating all the colors in your painting from just two or three hues. I am always amazed at the array of colors I can get from just blue and orange.
Squeezing paint directly from the tube and spreading it on your canvas or paper is not a great idea. To get the color you want you usually must modify it in some way, lightening it, darkening it, or adjusting its intensity (saturation).
If a watercolor is too dark you add water, if it’s too bright you can add the complement (the color across from it on the color wheel.)
Mud is an unrelievedly dull neutral that results when you overmix three or four very different colors on your palette and apply them to dry paper or canvas with a heavy stroke. Watercolorists can avoid this by dropping the same colors onto a wet surface so more variation in color and value results. Look at the beautiful apple below - no mud there.
Getting the perfect stroke of color usually involves a lot of trial and error. However, we remember what we learn from experimentation better than reading about it or watching a video. So get out your paints, play, and discover a chord to make your own.
Color Chord #1 - Monochrome - Value priority
Your eyes are designed to prioritize value relationships. the most fundamental of which, of course, is black and white, or value. If your painting is successful in monochrome, it will be successful with more color.
Harmonious color chords all have a common color that ties them together. The easiest way to achieve color harmony is to use only one color. Risks are certainly minimized, but it can also be extremely bland.
Another common monochrome chord is black and white plus one pure color as a shot of energy.
Color Chord #2 - Analogous - Color families
Analogous colors are wonderful for conveying mood. Any three to five colors located next to each other on the color wheel have a common color identity. When working with analogous color chords you will vary value and intensity, neutralized by its complement.
Color Chord #3 - Warm/Cool Complements - One enhances the other
You can’t measure the temperature of a color with a thermometer. The colors of fire are generally considered warm and the colors of ice are called cool. Because complements are found on opposite sides of the color wheel one complement is always warm and the other is always cool. Complements can be coaxed into giving a wide range of color combinations found to be pleasing over the ages and amongst many people. Each complement enhances the appearance of other. (you can read my newsletter Complements - A Love Story here)
Arthur Guptill said, "A rich effect can be obtained with only a limited palette. A warm and cool combination affords the student the best approach to his color problems, especially as they relate to outdoor sketching."
In his book on the history of watercolor painting, E. Barnard Lintott said, "For a young student there cannot be a better way of entering upon the study of watercolour than by rigorously banishing all but two colours from his palette. It is the best and surest way to the study of full colour. The colours should be a cold and warm one; cobalt blue and warm sienna—or Prussian blue and burnt sienna—are two combinations which lend themselves to a great variety of treatment."
Advanced colorists often work with multiple complementary pairs in the same painting.
Color Chord #4 - Triads - A full spectrum from three colors
Triadic Chords are composed of three basic colors - red, yellow, and blue. They could be cyan, magenta, yellow, or any other three related colors. You could use the secondaries as your primaries - orange, purple, and green. They don’t have to be colors squeezed from the tube.
Think of your trio as three instruments in your musical ensemble- each one of these colors will go through dozens of harmonious variations throughout your picture. They will appear in light tints, warm skin tones, dark bronzy shades, and bright foliage.
A palette of three colors can mix nearly a full spectrum of colors, and yet, remain manageable while you’re trying to wrap your head around how to mix them.
When working in oil or acrylic your triad will include black and white as well as red, yellow, and blue.
These are my favorite watercolor triads:
Aureolin Yellow - Permanent Rose - Cobalt Blue - gives pure tones and vibrant color, wonderful for skin and flowers.
Quinacridone Gold - Alizarin Crimson - Ultramarine Blue - deep rich darks
New Gamboge - Vermilion - Cobalt Blue (Phtalo Blue) (UBDeep)
Green Gold - Quinacridone Magenta - Cerulean Blue is great for an unexpected arrangement.
Notice that each triad has a limitation in the range of colors you can mix, so experiment to see if the color emphasis you have in mind will work with the triad you have chosen. You can see the difference in the available range of greens and violets in the triads below.
Sometimes I use more than one triad in a single painting to get a broader range of values and colors.
Fort Lauderdale artist, Teresa Kirk recommends using a triad of Cyan, Primary Red, and Primary Yellow when using gouache.
Florida Gold Coast Past President, Cole Wolford uses the staining watercolors Windsor Yellow, Windsor Blue, and Permanent Rose for his layered compositions.
James Gurney wrote a whole book about using triads. His favorite he calls the “iron triad” because each of the pigments contains iron oxides - Prussian blue, light red, and yellow ochre plus titanium white.
Below are other suggestions for good triadic combinations to try.
James Gurney suggests placing a triangular paper mask over a color wheel like this and rotating the triangular window around to see the color groupings change. He doesn't feel that the colors need to be equally spaced around the color wheel as suggested above.
The colors inside the triangle are called a "gamut". Each gamut suggests the feeling of walking from a room lit by incandescent light into another room lit by fluorescent light, and then stepping outside into the blue twilight. Your brain shifts from one color environment to another and still believes the full spectrum to be present.Of all the tools available to a painter, none is more exciting or evocative than color. Yet no other tool takes so much practice or is as difficult to master and truly understand. Employing a limited selection of colors in a chord for your painting will unify your work with sophistication and appeal. Color Chords are easy to mix, portable, and require fewer supplies. I love them so much I introduce them to every group I teach.
As unbelievable as it sounds, limited color chords make your work appear more colorful than those containing more colors. The limitations make the colors present more important on the stage of your painting.
Because your brain is accustomed to shifts of light as you move from one color environment to another, your brain believes the full spectrum to be present even when it is not. I suggest you review the four color factors above and notice how the local color around you changes as light and atmosphere interact with it. That's why you can use just a few colors to convey the illusion of light and shadow, mood, or suggest atmosphere or space.
If you enjoyed this article, please review my February 2021 Newsletter - Complements - A Love Story for more in-depth thoughts on color.
I hope I have inspired you to create artwork that is more unique and personal to you and given you some tips on how to use color to develop your artistic taste and style. My mentorship, guidance, and advice are available to you for creating more realistic art. I am happy to share my insights and my knowledge with you.
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With Light and Delight
Susan Convery
