Tide's Edge

 Tide's Edge

12" x 36"  oil on canvas

Available for purchase from my website

I really need to up my game as my promise of a minimum of two blog posts a week is not materializing consistently enough.  I will try harder.  Its not as if I don't have things to share, because I do.  Fitting in everything I want to do becomes the challenge.

This is my most recent painting, Tide's Edge.  I love long rectangular canvasses, they are such perfect shapes for waves and repetitive patterns.  Last week I drove to Pouch Cove, just the next little town on the coast, to purchase some canvasses and an easel from another artist who was leaving the country.  I came away with two easels, more canvasses, brushes, paint and  books, all in excess of my original expectations for my dollars.   Its pleasant when something like that happens, both in helping out another artist and of course overachieving expectations.  I am considering how to pay this forward for the future.  I believe when good things land in your lap, there is an obligation to do something similar for another person.  The form it takes varies, but it must happen.

I've been fighting technology to create a short video showing the process of creating this wave and software keeps crashing at crucial moments.  So until I conquer that process, here are a couple of progress shots of the piece for those interested to see how shapes and colours change and evolve in the creation process.

 

 

Observational skills

Artists look at objects differently than most people.  They observe detail in shape, value, colour that differ from what their 'left brain' tells them should be there.  The analytical side of the brain tells us that an apple is round and red.  Wrong.  Even if round and red, there are many changes in colour and shape that occur and must be translated into a drawing or painting for it to look recognizable as an apple.

Learning how to observe is one of the most important elements of learning to draw and one of the techniques I use in drawing workshops is blind and continuous contour drawing.  This focuses the mind on exploring an object and blocks out the analytical side which keep trying to tell you how something should look, instead of how it actually looks to your eyes.

Blind contour drawings are done by observing an object and drawing it without looking at the drawing as it progresses. The tip of the pencil never leaves the surface of the paper and you are forced to really look at the nuances that occur in the subject instead of comparing it to the drawing.

Continual contour drawing takes it up a notch by allowing you to look at the drawing and the subject but still never allowing the tip of the pencil to lift from the paper surface.  It forces you to observe and make decisions on what areas will have crossed lines and where they should go in creating the drawing.

Neither blind or continuous contour drawing could be called realistic but they are often quite abstract and beautiful.  These are a couple of demonstration drawings that I completed in a drawing class this morning. The moment when a student really starts to understand how their observation translates from preconceived 'left brain' drawing into true representation of an object is amazing and always makes me smile.  I see lightbulbs fill the studio classroom as it happens and I will never become tired of that moment, because I know people are heading down the path of learning how to really see.

Finding your style

 Study for a boat painting

 How do I find my style? Its a question that I get asked by artists starting their journey and my answer is " You don't. It finds you."

A style is something that makes your work recognizable as you. It can be a subject, a medium, a palette choice or technique of applying paint to a surface.  Whatever it is, it becomes associated with you - your style of working in art.

Development of a style comes over time.  Initially there is a lot of experimentation with technique and materials and subject matter until you find yourself doing the same thing over and over.  The repetition shows how something pulls your interest and never leaves.  You spend your time expanding your knowledge of the subject and honing your ability with a technique and realizing that is now your comfort zone.  It becomes almost like a comfortable chair.  You sink into it, knowing the contours, creating colours is intuitive and you could draw/paint it in your sleep.

But it does take time.  And experimentation.  And hard work.   Style  doesn't come easily or instantly usually.  As artists evolve over their lifetimes, style will change and adapt, and the artist may explore other aspects of a subject or medium, testing its limits through abstraction to realism or vice versa or toss the brush and reach for the knife instead.   

If you lined up all the work you have produced, what would be a common element in them?  Colour, subject, or technique?  You should see a thread connecting them all, even if it is just a glimmer.  Continuing to build on that thread by constant painting and drawing constantly. 

Step outside the box of safety and really paint using instinct as well as theory.  See what is there or invent it. Choose your own colours, not what you see in front of you.  Become an artist, not a copyist.

Be prepared to fail.  Not every painting will be good.  A lot will be horribly bad.  That is a good thing.  Its how we learn.  Keep painting.

Your style will find you.  Paint your path and meet it half way.

Hidden secrets

 

Hailing a Wave

6" x 8" original drypoint etching

Most artists have a variety of tools that help them ply their trade.  There is always something new to tempt either in the art supply store or online and the temptation shouts loudly, doesn't it?  I'm guilty I know.  I accumulate 'stuff'.  I have paper and paint and more paint and tools that I know I'll rarely or never use.  Now, to defend myself, most of the obscure tools are relics from my distant art past.  (I even have some original tubes of dried out paint from the first set that I ever bought.  I'm a sentimentalist, or so I tell myself, otherwise why would I have carted them across an ocean and kept them for 30+ years when they are no earthly use to anyone?)  

Experimentation in early days of artmaking is common and encouraged until a style emerges and a medium is adopted as a preference.  For me, its water, boats and fish, with oils as the medium of choice.  But when I need a break or the muse takes a vacation, I dabble in other mediums and am glad that I haven't banished them from my studio entirely.

Still inbetween paintings, I'm playing with etchings and decided to invest in some new etching styluses.  Of course I had to add some new inks, papers and acrylic plates to the order - to get the free shipping of course...  I have inks, I have papers.  I am weak where art supplies tempt.

 Etching Supplies

However, the tools do make a difference to the final product.  They don't have to be expensive, branded tools, but they should demand a sufficient enough investment that you know you have quality and that they will do the job you ask of them.  Buying a tool, whether paint, paper, ink or brush because another artist uses it will not magically provide you with the capability of that artist.  You will simply have another tool in your studio that may or may not be useful to you.  

 Dry Pigment

I am clearing the studio and finding things that I am putting to one side.  These are tools that I thought were vital or interesting but now I know they were more likely a random purchase and if they have not been used, they are of little use to me.  But.......you know how difficult it is to let them go. There is always the 'I might use them to make...." syndrome.

What are your hidden secrets in the studio?  What have you bought but never used?  Maybe we all need a swap meet and simply go home with a new range of tools that we may or may not use.

Take five

 

Every day I sketch something - anything.  Drawing and sketching are the keys to keeping those hand/eye/brain skills sharp and I can't recommend it enough.  With  a laptop, tablet or smartphone there is no shortage of opportunities to capture and share sketches, no matter where you are, like this sketch I did on a plane, then captured on a webcam in my hotel room.

I had to travel to Ottawa this week for a few days on business. Travelling gives me a chance to study people in airports and on planes and see how many faces I can capture on a page before they move on.

No time?  For those who say they don't have time - you do have time, you just need to make the decision and grab it. Many of my sketches take five minutes or less.  This little sketch of the rabbit top on a sugar bowl took less time to draw than it took for my coffee pod to process.

• Sketches are ideas, snapshots of a shape or movement, not finished drawings.  Let them be rough, show the construction lines and rethinking that goes on.
• If you spend hours on a sketch, its not a sketch.  Don't try to make it perfect.
• Sketches are usually from an object in front of you, not a photograph.  Drawing from life lets you see shapes and values more accurately and gives you a wide range of opportunities to capture subjects that you never would be able to otherwise.
• When drawing people be aware that they move all the time.  That's ok, they'll always go back to a similar pose and you can start where you left off.  Simply start on another person while you wait.
• You can sketch with any marking tool.  Pencil, pen, crayon, twig, whatever you like- and on any support.  Some of my best sketches are on the back of envelopes or brown wrapping paper scraps.
• If you sketch daily, I can guarantee that your drawing skills will improve immensely.  As drawing is the backbone of all art, its a skill that is essential for all artists.
• Look carefully, focus on negative shapes and values.  Fill in the broadest shapes and values then work on detail.

Fraternal twins

 Fish Head

4.75" etching on Stonehenge paper

I'm still on my little etching path and reusing disc protectors as etching plates.  As a result, a fish is born.  Well, two, to be precise, and likely more.

I was looking at the acrylic protector and thinking how could I incorporate the central hole into the etching, then of course! The pupil of an eye.  I scratched the image into the disc with a little etching needle.  I torn some Stonehenge paper into 6 x 8 sheets, sprayed then and put them into a ziplock plastic bag to sit overnight and become pliable and plump.  The next morning I coated the plate with Caligo oil based ink in Carbon Black (I love how intense and matte this ink is) then ran a print under the press.  The first print was great (but a couple of tiny flecks of ink on the surface); the second print ok and the third a bit blurred as the paper was too damp.

Fish Head - colour

4.75" original etching on stonehenge

With the second print, I added watercolour washes to it and like the effect as I can see the lines clearly through the pigment.  Put next to each other they look like fraternal twins.  Alike but different.

I'll be printing more of this image as long as the plate holds up.  With acrylic plates the lines compress and burrs become less distinct as the run proceeds, so most are limited editions due to the more fragile nature of the plate.

I've ordered some acrylic plates and etching needles as well as some more printmaking papers to try.  I'm familiar with a lot, but there are always new ones coming out and its good to keep testing and see what may become a new favourite.

Etching in the round

 Double Dipping

A late snowstorm shut down most things today and provided me with a snow day. Hopefully the last til next winter.  I can't begin to tell you how tired I am of winter, its been relentless this year.

So having a day to be in studio was a bonus.  I am in between paintings, so was clearing up, writing content for an upcoming online drawing workshop and uncovered some blank acrylic cd protectors.  These are the clear acrylic sheets, the same size and shape as the cd which protect the top of a stack of blank cds that come on a spool, if that makes sense.  As I use a fair number of cds at work there were a handful kicking around so I grabbed them, thinking I could do something with them.

Using an etching stylus, I scratched an image of a boy fishing for capelin with dip nets taken last summer at the beach.  Of course the central hole and circular ridge are present, but that adds to the uniqueness of the etching.

I used Caligo etching ink in Carbon Black to cover the plate, removed the excess, then hunted around for a few pieces of paper to test print.  The first I grabbed was an Unryu Japanese paper known as “cloud-dragon” This paper istranslucent with long kōzo fibers embedded in it.  I sprayed it lightly with water then sandwiched the disc, paper and padding and put it through my bottlejack press.  The image above is the result.

I did a couple more which were not as clear and may be because the paper wasn't as damp, but I will keep them and add some colour to them and see how well that works.  The etching burrs on drypoint tend to degrade with excess prints and don't hold as much ink, so the number of prints will be limited.

There are any number of options for etchings using these disc protectors that likely would just be thrown out or recycled in other ways.  Watch for more circular etching ideas using these in the future.

The End of Summer

The End of Summer

 16" x 40"

oil on gallery canvas

I've completed the second salted cod painting.  I enjoy exploring the multitude of colours which appear in the flesh of the fish as it dries. Going from soft pastels to glowing golds or greys and blues to rich siennas, they never fail to fascinate.

And while dried fish takes a backseat in most food cupboards these days, salt cod seems to stay, at least in Newfoundland. Tradition and history die hard.

In communities dotted throughout the landscape, you'll find cod drying as it has done for hundreds of years on lines, on flakes, on anywhere that it can, to sustain and add to food sources during the winter.

If you'd like to try your hand at this centuries old tradition, here's how.

10 tips for funding applications

 Untitled -work in progress

16" x 40" oil on canvas

For artists who want to see an idea expand and are willing to put in the prep work, there are art grants available to assist on a variety of levels.  It take some research to find them and more research, careful planning and networking to bring a concept to a level where others may be willing to fund it.

I've discovered the following when considering applications for funding (and many apply to entering juried competitions as well)

1. Have a unique concept.  Its quite amazing how much art is a repeat of something that's gone before.  Unless its a unique spin or technique on a subject, or an approach that explores a subject from a different angle,  its a difficult sell. Do your research on the organization you are considering applying to for funding.  Has a similar project been done?  Did it receive full funding?  Successfully funding projects are usually listed on the organizations' websites.  Take time to browse and see what's been previously funded.
2. Plan the project in detail from the outline of the concept, to final details.  This walk through will reveal problem areas.  The general layout starts with an overview, which is a brief paragraph of what you will do, when and how.  A detailed explanation of what you will do, how you will do it, the time frame, the end result is next.  Finally a detailed budget should follow.  Depending on the organization, it may be simple, but should include a detailed breakdown of costs and a final total.
3. Do budget research in real time.  Don't guess at prices.  Review and compare costs, including tax and shipping.  Get pricing from three companies for products or services that you will need.  You don't want to under or over estimate costs, it could affect the outcome of your project.
4. Read the application instructions and follow them to the letter.  Obvious yes?  Often this is a slip up area, when vital documents are not included.  Make sure your checklist of included materials is there and in the quantities requested.  Ensure your art resume, biography and artist statement are up to date. If references are required, ask permission to use a person's name ahead of time so there are no surprises for them.
5. Don't take the little things for granted.  Printing costs include ink, paper, photographs, copying fees,etc.  Its easy to think they won't take up a lot of time or supplies but they can mount up quickly, depending on the project.  Look at every aspect of your project and research the cost to you.
6. Consider partnerships and networking in your proposal.  These are key words in today's business industry.  They expand reach, lessen costs and provide long lasting impact.  In many funding applications, they are an option that can tip the scale for your application.
7.  Community involvement comes high on the list for gaining brownie points.  Consider how to share your work with the world.  Talk to a gallery to confirm an exhibition or set up one in another venue.  Run a workshop to teach a technique, give an artist talk.  Its all about sharing.
8. Be professional.  If you are provided with funds, make sure you keep accurate records, images and written documentation to provide the granting agency with a report at the end of the project.  Being slow with reports, inaccurate accounting or the ultimate faux pas, not completing a project, will be a black mark for any future grants.
9. Say thank you.  It sounds simple and obvious, but can be overlooked.  Give credit to funders on resources produced by your project, provide links on your website, blog, social media wherever possible.  Invite them to exhibitions, keep them informed.
10. Give your proposal to someone else to read.  Have them proofread for errors and grammar and check budget figures for accuracy.  Ensure you know the deadline for applications and get your application in before that date.

Good luck!

Seasons

  Summer Line   SOLD

12 x 24 oil on canvas

I am longing for spring with some heat in the sun, a glimpse of green grass, crocuses popping up and people smiling more.  It has been a long, cold winter that doesn't want to relinquish its hold on the land.  Its snowing as I write this, yes March 23rd.  Snow.  Sigh.


The change of seasons with longer days, brighter light and hope for summer can affect how I paint to some degree.  I know with these grey skies interspersed with hints of spring have me creating paintings that reflect light, pastel colours and feeling of warmth in them.

Seasons don't usually affect how much time I spend in the studio.  If I have to produce, I have to produce, its like any job - you have to put in the hours to get the product out.  But the breaks and day trips are longer as the land grows again and crops need tending, chickens need feeding and eggs need gathering.

Low Tide

18 x 24  oil on canvas

Light fuels inspiration too.  While grey days produce beautiful light, sunlight glowing through a leaf is always breathtaking.  Sketching moves outside the confines of a car when outside.  In winter, its just too cold and uncomfortable to perch on a snowbank or frozen puddle and sketch no matter how inspiring the view, so its done from a car. Sketching in summer and spring gives a new lease on creativity and feels different.  There is a freedom there that only the seasonal light and warmth can  bring.

How does spring affect your painting rhythm?

Endurance

 Three on Lace

9 x 12 oil on masonite

I'm in my ninth year of blogging.  I truly didn't think I would last two weeks,let alone pushing through the ninth year.  With statistics showing that many blogs dissolve into nothing within three months of inception, I must be long winded, obsessive or am going for a world record!

Its likely more of the first two that keep me typing to what seems like an empty box at times.  I originally started a blog to make myself accountable to produce art.  Its served that purpose and continues to be a niggling thought in the back of my head daily, whether I've posted here or not, that I must work on art and I must share my thoughts about it.  Whether there is audience or not is irrelevant.  Yes, of course, its good to have feedback, although I'm not a statistic hound and my blog has become similar to a personal art diary, with benefits of interaction with others from time to time.

There are other bloggers of similar vintage who produce wonderful work and words of wisdom.  Perhaps the long lasting bloggers should start a club to compare notes about blog aging. Blogging content and frequency has reduced over the last few years with the presence of social media and its effortless (or nearly) one button or 141 character method of expression.  While social media are very effective, I believe that blogging continues to be a draw for those people wanting to know the underpinnings and thoughts behind a comment or image.  Its rather like books, they'll never disappear even if electronic form and become the place where information and imagination reside.

Will I continue past the nine years and into ten?  Likely so.  If I've gone this far and still have something to say and someone takes something from it, its been a useful exercise.  Looking back over time there have been some popular posts and its interesting to look at them and remember the process, the event, the good and the bad.  Have a look at some of the popular posts in the list on the right side.  Is your favourite there?

Thanks for coming along for the ride, I hope you'll stay for the rest of the journey.  I like having your company.

PS  The painting above is a demo painting from a recent workshop I gave in palette knife painting.  Those who know me know that I find pears a bit boring as they are such a constant subject in paintings.  However, the simple shapes and composition makes them good for beginners to tackle.

The value of colour

 Colour matching

If I had a magic wand for beginning artists, I would give them the gift of drawing and colour theory.  Both are areas that I see people struggle with and there is often an unwillingness to invest time in what are the backbones of art.  Without being able to create an underlying structure freehand and without knowing how to create colours and values, people become frustrated and unable to achieve their artistic potential. 

Artists need to  understand colour theory as much as they need to understand the importance of values.  These two areas are often a weakness where timidity and lack of technical skills play a part.  Both have a solution that involves some study of theory and some time spent practicing to really understand the rational behind the process.  I promise there will be an "Aha!" moment when it falls into place and opens the door for you to art without as much struggle involved.

Greys and browns

Just as in drawing with greys and blacks, paint colour also has a value.  Most people have seen a grey scale and its often one of the first things produced in a beginner's drawing class, but it rarely translates over in the colour world but is as important.  Values ranges or lack of them will make or break your painting.  Any object can be believeable in any colour if the values are correct.

The important things to remember are hue, which is the colour pigment itself; value, which is how light or dark a hue is; and chroma, which is the saturation level of a hue. Comparison of a colour to the range on a grey scale will provide you with an idea of value.  If you turn your colour or painting into a greyscale image, you can easily do the comparison to find where it sits on a value scale or compare it to a reference (if you're using a photograph) that's also greyscale.

Colour wheel

With time and practice you become familiar with colour values and can make the decisions around increasing and decreasing values.  The exercise at the top of this post shows my decision process in matching the colour chip shown.  I start with the overall hue, then I start to lighten the value, finally moving towards desaturating the hue using a complementary colour. 

The second image is a colour chart where I used a range of dark premixed tube colours then created my own chromatic black the the second column from the right.  The decreasing values in the column are increasing additions of titanium white to the colour in box above it.  The last column shows how I can increase the level of coolness or warmth by adding more of one of the primary colours used to create the base chromatic black.

Aside from learning to draw, the next best thing to know is colour theory. It will save you time, grief and money.

Untitled

Untitled Boat

9.5 x 12.5"  pastel on Canson paper

Often titles arrive for paintings almost before they are begun.  Or while in process as colour and shape evolve.  Not in this case.  This boat remains untitled, so much so, that Untitled Boat may indeed become its title.

Having a number of untitled paintings can be problematic when it comes to cataloguing and tracking them.  Potential collectors and artists easily lose track if every 4th painting becomes "Untitled # ....."

Finding a name hinges on mood, lighting, place name, object name and a host of other variables. There are simplistic names based on obvious features or geographic settings, romantic sounding names, dredged up from a background of stories or symbolism around the work or clever titles based on tongue in cheek plays on words or settings or similarities.

An occasional "Untitled" label is fine and can enhance the mystery of a piece, but when overused, like anything, becomes confusing when used frequently or make the artist look as their vision wasn't complete when the painting ended.

Painting makeover

 Currents  SOLD

8 x 8 oil on panel

In anticipation of an upcoming birthday, I'm giving you a gift.  Free shipping between March 5th  and midnight March 9th on anything in my Etsy store.   Enter MARCH6 at checkout to get your discount.

Visit the store and save on shipping for items like this original painting, Currents, which will be posted later today in the store.

This was a remake of a painting done a number of years ago when I was refreshing my atrophied oil painting skills.  While the original was ok, I wanted more life and movement in it.  Using a palette knife I laid on a thick layer of oil then using a Catalyst texture tool W-02 I drew it through the water to create the lines of movement often seen in swirling currents around rocks.

Where do you start?

 It is a question I often hear when talking about bringing a painting from concept to finished product.

My start is a spark of inspiration in my head, from something I see, or read about or a photograph.  Or all of the above!

Most of my paintings begin in a sketchbook or on a scrap of paper. Some are scribbled thumbnail sketches where I work out values and composition.  Others have additional notes about light or colour so I can keep details fresh in my head back in the studio.  I must have sheaves of scraps of paper as well as sketchbooks.  I don't see my sketchbooks as little works of art, to remain pristine and perfect.  My sketchbooks are messy and paint strewn, scattered with mediums from pencil to oil paint and are the snapshots that serve as my working tools which lead to a painting. They are battered, dog-eared and used, just as any good tool should be.

This first sketch gives me colour note reminders, rough blocking of values in the shadows and overall shapes.  Of course it is nowhere near perfect nor is the boat shape.  All that will come together when I start the drawing for the final painting.  But the sketch is the germinated seed that grows  slowly towards the light.  It gives me all the information I need in case I never see this particular boat, water or light again. 

Becoming very familiar with your subject in its natural setting, especially if there is just a photographic reference, enables you to have the freedom to know how the environment affects the subject. You don't even need the exact subject if you make an accurate enough sketch and allow enough time to absorb colour information.

Here I instinctively know how light curves around the shape of the boat, where little highlights hit and how the water reacts to wind and movement.  I know it because I have seen a boat on water a thousand times, perhaps 10,000 times in my life.  I have spent hours roaming beaches in all weathers, watching waves both gentle and powerful, water both flat and rough.  Without ever seeing a scene again, and armed with a sketch, colour and value notes, I have the tools needed to create a painting.  

Night Fishing - Collograph

 Night Fishing  - SOLD

8" x 10"  collograph

Its been a couple of months since I did any printmaking so decided that a collograph might be in order.  These are fairly simple to do with materials most people have lying around the studio.  A piece of mat or backing board, some white glue, acrylic varnish and printmaking ink.  I added in watercolour and watercolour pencils with a little pen and ink too.

My concept was from a sketch that I created for a future painting.  I use my sketchbook as a tool.  I don't care if its meant for water based media or dry; if the mood strikes me, the colour goes onto paper, buckles and all.

I drew the sketch onto a piece of 8 x 10 backing board then using a sharp knife cut around the shapes and removed top layers in some areas, leaving it looking like this.  I then sealed the surface with gloss gell to leave some texture in the water area and the old boat surface.  This also makes the board waterproof.  Another layer of acrylic varnish seals the deal.

When the varnish was dry I used Caligo Carbon Black etching ink to work into the plate then pulled a test print or three on my wonderful home made bottle jack press.  It works like a dream at a 10th of the cost of a printing press.  I used Japanese paper (I can't recall the name as I grabbed a few sheets from a pile I had previously cut) I was content with this print and then started to add colour once the ink was dry enough.

I started adding washes of watercolour pigment to the paper, wetting the whole surface as the colour bleeds on the Japenese paper, so I wanted the colours to merge with no hard edges.

Its fairly insipid at this point and I wanted to intensify colours and sharpen edges.  I used watercolour pencils to define the shapes.

I hope you try this technique, it is open to additions of colour or you can leave the print as it comes off the press. I'd love to see what you produce if you try it.

Colour Chart - ultramarine blue

I'm still working on my colour charts off and on when I get a moment.  Yes, they are time consuming, yes they take some paint and some work, but yes they are worth the effort. Nothing helps you become so familiar with your palette as does the process of finding values that you can achieve by pushing paint around.

This is the third chart still using my split primary palette.  This time ultramarine is the dominant colour and mixed across the top row with each of the other colours then downwards in ever increasing amounts of titanium white to decrease the value as I go.

Ultramarine blue is the workhorse of many palettes as it is versatile, cool, transparent and powerful.  Its bias leans towards red so mixed with yellows, either cadmium lemon or cadmium yellow light here, the greens produced are less saturated than the mix I'd get with Pthalo Blue and Cad lemon for instance.  You can read everything you need to know about ultramarine pigment on the Winsor & Newton site.

Titian made dramatic use of ultramarine in the sky and draperies of Bacchus and Ariadne (1520-23).

With the reds, the range of purple and violets in pronounced with a richer version in alizarin crimson and permanent rose as they have some blue in them giving a more saturated colour than when mixed with Cadmium Red Light has a yellow bias and desaturates more towards a purplish grey, which I quite like.

Four value ranges, from left to right, mixing pthalo  blue, burnt sienna, burnt umber and payne's grey with ultramarine and titanium white.

When mixed with the earth tones, chromatic blacks can be created, leaning towards browns in the Burnt Sienna, charcoal greys with Burnt Umber and blue-greys when using Payne's Grey.  Payne's Grey is a mix of Ultramarine, black and a little burnt sienna, so staying within that family a harmonious palette is created.

Next I will be looking at blacks and greys, both straight blacks and greys from tubes as well as chromatic blacks, which I prefer as they have more warmth and interest in them.

As a note, I have used mostly KAMA pigment oil paints in the colour chart and heavy weight Bristol paper 400 series 11" x 14" applied with a palette knife.