- Melissa (aka: Honey Bee)

The painting shows good drawing skills and brush controll. Do another painting now, paying extra attention to color intensity that mutes in the shadow and distance. Have fun, you're off to a great start.

I did it in stages.. but I didn't really understand the 7 layer technique at that time.. well, I sort of did, but I really didn't see how it all came together. All I had was a print out of 1art.com's lesson on line.. I went out and bought a few oil painting books.. but soon threw them away when I compared the quality of work in them to Alexei's.. That and they all were really big on mixing the paint on the canvas.. scumbling(!!?).. This is where my model building sense took over.. So I let one color dry before I used another..

Now I have a bit better understanding.. but I really need to get one of those videos and watch it a few times..

Covino talked about two techniques in his book "Verdaccio" ? and Grisaille? I think.. The point was if I remember correctly you have several "problems" to solve when oil painting.. shape, shadows & tone, and color.. if I remember them correctly.. I think it said that these techniques break up those three problems in discrete steps.. So I started painting a cardinal (same picture as my drawing in the drawing forum) and started painting it only in shades of gray.. I think this was the "grisaille" technique.. I'll try to get it scanned in.. and I'd love to hear what you think.. The problem even here is that I had difficulty mixing the various shades of gray (only 10 of them).

Well, with the ten shade gray scale I pre-mixed up a batch and then put each shade in a small 1 oz jar.. trying to keep it from drying out.. and then I saw Alexei had a 20 shade gray scale!

I guess the point was that after I get the shading correct, I'd go back and add the colors.. but I have a lot to learn about mixing paint first..

Shape, shadow, tone, color. Under the heading of color would be intensity ,as well as hue, warm and cold. Non-intense tends more toward gray or neutrality.

If I remember correctly, Covino was into what he called "controlled painting" where color intensity was altered with the addition of a gray on the same value scale as the color. An interesting and useful method with it's own look. So if you want to mute a blue that is a value of #3 on the scale, you add a value #3 gray to it untill it's intensity lessens the desired amount. This is different than mixing a complimentary color in to neutralize it.

That's something worth playing with in your next piece. grayer as space recedes, and grayer in the shadow areas (now I don't mean gray color, I mean less intense color from the addition of gray). Some warm and cool color also, most especially in the larger color areas.

Covino's Grissaille has similarities to the dead layer.

I haven't gotten one yet (I've only just discovered this site), but getting one of ALexie's videos would likely be a big help. While it can certainly be done, learning from a book is a tough road. I say that even though I have a whole wall of them. You can pick up things that aren't thought to be written from watching. I have stumbled about on my own for the most part, often taking a good deal of time re-inventing the wheel.

As for color, time, painting, mixing, and doing up some color charts experimenting with tints, compliment mixes, and gray additions, will eventually get you there.

Heck man start another painting,
Carl