Intensity is the Forgotten Axis

3-D models of color are designed around three axes: hue, value and intensity.

The Turquoise Axis

4.9" x 7"

Pastel

Casey Klahn

iPhone informal photo

The three properties of color are well known by the artist: hue, value and intensity.  But, how much attention do we pay to intensity?  It is a critical element of contemporary color, given the broad availability of colors now.  You may not wish to "push" high intensity colors in your artwork, but ignorance of this key property is also a disadvantage to you.  Above, my pastel, The Turquoise Axis, is focused on color intensity as a subject.  Below,  see the Renaissance piece by Deiric Bouts, which utilizes intensity to illustrate sacred meanings.

I have relied on the Getty Museum page on Understanding Formal Analysis for much of the research for the Elements of Art series at my blog, Pastel Workshop.  This entry on color intensity, provides a timeless illustration of the forgotten property of color: intensity.

Intensity describes the purity or strength of a color. Bright colors are undiluted and are often associated with positive energy and heightened emotions. Dull colors have been diluted by mixing with other colors and create a sedate or serious mood. In this image the artist captured both the seriousness and the joy of the scene with the dull gray stone interior and the bright red drapery.

The Annunciation, Dieric Bouts.

One reason pastels are called "sticks of dynamite" is that they can bring incredibly high intensity to your work.  Like paint from the tube, there is no adulteration of hue.  The trick is handling that explosive with intention and craft.  Does your color composition speak clearly, or is the intensity blowing up your work?  


Follow my series, Elements of Art, at pastelsblog.blogspot.com, Pastel Workshop.

The Simple View of the Value Scale - Vlog

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Elements of Art

Deborah Secor: Today's Art Class

Deborah Secor has an art class blog, and has done me the compliment of referencing The Colorist as a resource.  That's a nifty thing, since I admire her pastels, and her teaching.  I recommend you look at the link, as her list of  Basic Art Elements, and artists who emulate them, is noteworthy.

Trees On The Prairie

Prairie Bush
5.25" x 12.75"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

The Prairie Series is beginning to show a direction. I am starting to be able to enumerate the things that I am trying to say visually with these paintings. It is more about trees on the prairie than it is the open spaces. Perhaps the open spaces will be my next thing, but I feel these have a kinship with my last series, The River Series. It is a visual relationship - not a naturalist or descriptive one.

It could have been a series about abstract land masses, which is a great theme for these open spaces in the American west. But, I kept focusing on eye sumps, like dark masses and colored splashes in foliage. The relationship of the tree to the whole is also key in good landscape paintings.

I wanted to add some words - essays and texts - to this series. Then I realized that I already have a series about trees, called Tree School, at my blog Pastel. Please enjoy these lessons on rendering trees. I think you'll find them unique, and I will be bringing them here interspersed with my new prairie pictures as I get them photographed. I also hope to write new texts to the Tree School, and together we can watch the Prairie unfold.



Originally posted January 15th, 2009.

Tree Study in Turquoise
@ 6" x 5"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

The title "Tree School" sounds like it belongs at an arborist's convention, or maybe a logging camp. But, I want to offer my artist's take on rendering trees with pastel.



Trees can be an awful distraction in a painting. Especially if they are present but not the subject, and if they take up too much of your effort.

We all enjoy graphite drawings in detail of a beautiful tree. Great texture, perfect modeling, and wonderful presence are what please us. But, that is the tree drawing where the tree is center stage; the star of the show. What about when the landscape is about things other than how the trees look? What do you do then?

Additionally, you can face a problem when the trees are the main content, but not the subject. I mean by that the painting where a color composition is the subject of the painting, or maybe something like the motion of one's eye through the woods. Trees have a built-in drama to them, and I propose that too much detail can distract from the message.

Return here to attend my short course on trees in pastel, and I leave you with this hint: don't begin with green.

A Wolf Kahn Curriculum

After Wolf Kahn, #1
9.5" x 6"
Pastel on Paper
Casey Klahn

"Painting is easy, till you know how."
Edgar Degas. h/t Wolf Kahn.

Speaking of Kahn, I found an interesting lesson plan at the Hoyt Institute of Fine Arts: Wolf Kahn, A Curriculum of his Life, Work and Influences. I didn't like the section where a teacher assigns common meanings to colors, but if you stand back from the whole lesson plan, you see a nice hodge-podge of data on contemporary beliefs about color. Actually, it is a collection of various lesson plans on color, with an emphasis on Modern art and current artists. There are also a lot of art and education links embedded in this plan.

The Wolf Kahn images are enough to recommend this pdf. file to you.

Quote, Hoyt Center curriculum,

These lesson plans are the result of the work of the teachers who have attended the Columbia Education Center’s Summer Workshop. CEC is a consortium of teacher from 14 western states dedicated to improving the quality of education in the rural, western, United States, and particularly the quality of math and science Education. CEC uses Big Sky Telegraph as the hub of their telecommunications network that allows the participating teachers to stay in contact with their trainers and peers that they have met at the Workshops.

The Axe Falleth

Smack Down the Axe

In the comments section of my recent post, Red Tree, a good conversation took place about the role of the artist as self-critic. In the post, I said:
"A thing I do is, after completing a run of artworks, I will spot a couple of dogs in the lot, and axe those. Then, I will look at the remainder, and axe the two or three weakest paintings, as well."

Here is the conversation.

Carolyn L. asks:

"While you are 'axing' what questions do you ask yourself? What do you look for? Do you have a specific set of guidelines you apply? While I am sure the process is not entirely objective, there must be a thought process you pursue. Learning to evaluate one's own work is not easy. It is not a skill directly taught in art class. I would like to hear your take on the subject."


My response:

Good questions, Carolyn.

Sure, the first thought is something subjective. A niggling something that isn't right (usually a compositional problem). Often, the compositional issue has to do with proportion. Some element is too big, or too small.

The big problem is when it's close to okay, and then the struggle starts.

Distance of a day helps. I sit and look at my work a lot. I tape or tack the series on the wall and stare and evaluate. I use mats or tape to frame them. I get the rejects out of the way, although they still reside on the wall somewhere out of the way. A stack of rejects (or 2 or 3 stacks) sit around the studio, and I can refer to those for ideas later.

No guidelines. That's a little too static for me.

I look for strength in a painting.

I don't outright reject a work for technique issues. Some mistakes are okay with me if the point comes across. And, meanwhile, I am on a program to improve my technique! There's a contradiction there for you.

Some very important reasons for rejecting an artwork are if they don't fit the series, or my style direction. In that vein, I will get rid of works that have too many sharp or defined edges, or too much detail, compared to the whole.

Another issue can be dull spots where the paper just packed up too much with pastel.

Another problem can be value comparisons. Bad value progressions - too stark or too similar, are a bad thing.

Maybe a shape of an element isn't right. Too regular; wrong size or direction.

Endless...and people think art is easy!

Diane Wenzel then followed up with this question:

"Casey, your review of critical axing is very useful. But how is it when you begin a series? When you are in the heat of creation, what do you do with your critical hacking voice? If the hacker is asleep, I can see how you might become caught up in one place adding unwanted, useless details."


Me:

Well, Diane, it sounds like you are asking two questions. One: how to edit a whole series at the start. The other: do I get caught up in a the process and add superfluous stuff?

Or, perhaps you are asking that if the series is in its infancy, how can I tell which parts belong?

I never choose a series from an idea. The series presents itself based on a successful image that needs to be explored many times. So, the series is already a successful image and hopefully never contrived.

What are the qualities of that first successful image (or two)? These become my criteria. Also, my whole art statement comes into play (color - modern treatment - realism - abstract heavy).

Superfluous stuff? I go down that road often. That's why I have to edit the works after they are done. Interestingly, I will be in the groove and create nice works with new and fresh passages, and all is well then. Other times, I won't even know what I am doing in the studio!

Tree School at Pastel Blog

A new series begins today at Pastel.

Advanced Composition Study

See my Five for Friday tips blog for an in-depth study of perspective today.

Deciduous Trees Series

Green Maple
May June 08
6.5" x 6"
Pastel
Casey Klahn

At my blog "Pastel", I have been posting about my series of deciduous trees. See them here and here. The second link includes some of my Five for Friday instructional tips exclusive from my studio. What that means is that I am opening my head, and disgorging thoughts about pastel technique.

My goal is to be roughly 75% - 80% original in these pastel instructional tips. I have received word that a venue may be forming soon which will allow me the opportunity to teach workshops. Put me in the school of those who take teaching as a strict calling, with no small requirement on the preparation side. These Friday tips at Pastel have been a lesson plan builder for me. And now you know the backstory on that.

Paper it Over

If you aren't subscribed to Pastel yet, here's a heads up that the Five for Friday post is up, and we're discussing paper.

Doctor says things are going fine with my post-op recovery. I can taper the narcotic meds, and my body just has to break up a big hematoma. It's about the size of a small cell phone (hello!) and takes energy for my body to resolve.

The good news, at least, is that I won't be hampered by the meds in the studio. Maybe some art will begin to flow again. I think I'll start back with the Wolf Kahn project to loosen up, but I have a commission and an alternate-venue hanging to get done, and those are for big works. Luckily, I finally figured out how to mount my new easel on the wall so I can do full sheet works, now.

Behind the Pastel Curtain, Monty

This Week: Give it Up for the Grays

At the Pastel blog, I am giving up my secrets on pastel work faster than Mata Hari's dinner date. Hurry over and see my new series, called "Five for Fridays", before I get off of my meds and realize what I've done.

Color Theory - Continued

Beware the dominance of computer medias' views of color, dear friends. Ink, mass media, and the light on your computer screen do not reflect the totality of knowledge about color. The "Old School" color understandings that artists have known for a few centuries are not the end-all, be-all of color, either. However, the artist's eye on the two dimensional surface, and his pigments applied there upon, are very different from the use of color in the mass and digital arenas. I'm only saying that the knowledge contained on the Internet regarding color seems to me to be biased towards the digital media.

Here is a great, yet simple interactive lesson on the color wheel. It comes from Iowa State University (I think). Good on them.

Here's one that painters will need to use with some consideration of it's computer bias. But, it could be a slick way to create a rough composition for one's "analogue" artwork. William Lehman has begun working with an e-tablet for drawing. I really like what he's doing and look forward to keeping tabs on his progress. I had a neighbor at an art fair who was doing digital realist art with a stylus directly on the computer screen, and I was most fascinated by it. If I were to go that direction, I can see the possibilities for commercial art. In fact, I can't conceive of not going that direction for commercial, or applied, art.

More to follow on the subject of color theory.

Wolf Kahn Pastels Review - Part 1

The Big Drawing Book Review will be going on in October. I am early, being an overachiever by nature. Not really, I just had it in my mind that I had to have this done before the end of September!

In reviewing my drawing book, I chose the first one I could think of: Wolf Kahn Pastels. It is hard to create a format for a review about a book which has very little format, itself. It is a series of petite essays that have titles like: Dry, and Celebrating a Single Color, or Bright Orange.

Kahn certainly has the heart of a teacher, himself. It comes through in his writing, and you can just picture him in a workshop or seminar imparting his wisdom to his acolytes. Much of his subject matter is about art as art. And he isn't pretentious about it, either. He is just genuine - true to himself and his own motives about making art.

I find myself in virtually complete agreement with him about art matters. He doesn't get on a soapbox about these great issues, but he parlays about them in a conversational manner. For instance, in his chapter on The C&O Canal, he takes a shot at the art historians who deconstruct artworks to find the hidden motives of the artist. But, he does it in the wryest way possible.

It is a sure sign that his book is effective, as I find in my second full read of it that I want to go into my studio and start creating pastels that ooze the stuff that I have absorbed by looking intently at his drawings. How much I missed the first time! How great it is to have a little more context myself in order to better understand what he is talking about!

Read it. Re-read it. Do some pastels (even if you don't consider yourself an artist!). Write your own essays about your art. The next level? Make a colored drawing with the subject in the very middle. Paint a painting with some (much) of the ground showing through. Instead of hatching, choose scribbling. Start with high key orange.

The following is an interview that WK had in a venue called, "Artist's talk About Art", in which he addresses the subject of art, and I focus on his comments about the Pastels book.

November 7, 2003

Dialog between Wolf Kahn and Donna Marxer, "Wolf Kahn's America"

WK I tried to write a "how to" book with metaphysical pretensions. (Kahn is speaking about his Pastels book, here-Casey)

DM What makes a great painting? That's a hard question.
WK You’ve got to somehow be going after something which finally is violated in your picture, because your picture goes much further than the thing that you tried to make. I say that somewhere unless a picture has ten times as much as the artist consciously put into it, it’s not even made by an artist . . .

I think each great painting has its own attribute. I think it is a mistake to generalize. In fact, most teaching I'm against. And in my pastel book, I have a section called "Composition" and I say that composition in my lexicon is a dirty word. Because it presupposes an ideal painting that exists somewhere and which all the laws that the teachers are teaching are exemplified. For example, "Can't cut off a corner." "You can't cut off a painting in half in the middle." "There's got to be a center of interest." And all this bullshit that gets taught. And I think the whole idea of an ideal painting that exists in some kind of imperiun is a mistake. Like, as soon as I heard that you can't cut off a corner, I immediately made a painting that cut off a corner. Because our perversity has to be satisfied. It is very important to satisfy our perversity. Because we don't want to be hemmed in; we don't want to be put into confining fences and most art teaching has to do with fences, for example, you read the Pastel Journal. I mean the lady who runs it is very nice and she even gave me a good review for my pastel book and I shouldn't speak against that magazine but hovering in the back of everybody's mind in that magazine is the idea that there is such a thing as a perfect pastel that you have to make in which the shadows are just the right colors and the mood of the landscape is exemplified and so on. I think all of these things come secondarily, you know, they come out of you doing the best you can on some kind of a wild goose chase. I think art is a wild goose chase. I just came up with that now. (Laughter)

http://www.atoa.ws/sales/kahn.htm

Book:

Wolf Kahn Pastels
Wolf Kahn, Intro by Barbara Novak
2000
Harry N. Abrams Books, NY







Random Link:

Be prepared to have your mind blown. Follow this link to a Little Rock, Arkansas high school lesson plan based on Wolf Kahn's pastels. Don't stop before you have paged to the bottom and seen the student results that are posted.