T&T Thanksgiving

 

Tried and True Tips and Tricks 

“When you go out to paint,

try to forget

what objects you have before you,

a street,

a house,

a field, or whatever. 

Merely think,

here is a little square of blue,

here is an oblong of pink,

here is a streak of yellow,

and paint it

 just as it looks to you,

the exact color and shape,

until it gives you your own naive

impression of the scene before you.”

                                                     Claude Monet

Happy Thanksgiving!

Want to keep up to date by email? Fill in your email address in the place provided in the upper right corner under the banner. We look forward to hearing from you.

T&T Thursday!

Nib Tuning 101

By Alex Zonis

Sketch by Alex Zonis

So you got yourself a fountain pen – congratulations! You took it out for sketch or several, and it is nice … but … There is a little something that is not quite… Perhaps the nib is catching a little when doing a big gesture… Or perhaps you wish it were a little juicier.  The experience is not terrible, but could be better.

There are a couple of simple things you can do to help your pen along. Just a little adjusting, or as we say in Pen World – a little nib tuning.

Here’s what you need:

• Micro-mesh 12000 grit                              https://www.amazon.com/Micro-Mesh-Micro-Mesh-12-000/dp/B001F7LVNC

• Brass sheets for flossing 0.002” https://www.gouletpens.com/products/goulet-brass-sheets?variant=11884650463275

Have a little ink in your fountain pen, because you will be tuning and testing, tuning and testing.

To smooth the nib:

• Put a small drop of water on the micro-mesh, place the nib into the drople

• Draw a few figure-eights, infinity signs, small circles clockwise and counter-clock. Only make a few, then test the nib on your regular sketching paper.

Better? 

If it feels great, stop there and enjoy your pen. If a bit more smoothing is needed, do a couple more figure-eights and circles, and test again.

• Be careful to not over-smooth, over-smoothing will make drawing/writing difficult. Fountain pen works on the principle of Controlled Leak. If we over-smooth and there isn’t enough friction left between the nib and paper, the tines will not open up, and the ink will not flow. So proceed very slowly and test after every couple of smoothing motions.        

• Be sure to rotate the pen in your fingers as you are drawing your smoothing figures on the micro-mesh. This is done to make sure that the filing motion does not create a flat surface at the business end of the nib. You want a dome there.

To increase ink flow:

• Insert the brass sheet vertically between the nib tines. 

• Do a few flossing motions – up and down, forward and back.

• Remove the brass sheet and test the flow. 

Better? Stop there.

Not quite? Do a few more flossing motions and test again. Go slow and test often. What you are doing is opening up the tines a tiny bit so that more ink can flow through.

Be careful to not over-floss. Remember Controlled Leak principle. Opening up tines too far (or splaying) will mess up the capillary action needed for Controlled Leak. If this happens, you may need to send the pen to a pen hospital for the nib to be repaired or replace the nib altogether.

These steps are very simple. They will take you less time than reading these instructions here. The main thing to remember is to test often, after every couple of motions. After you filed away a few microns of metal, it is not possible to put it back!

Please do not practice on gold nibs, rare nibs or pens still on warranty. Get a few inexpensive pens, like Jinhao 992, and practice. When tuned right, these little $2 Jinhao’s will draw as well as pens 20 times the price.

A special thanks to Atlas Stationers who hosted this demonstration by Alex for Urban Sketchers Chicago's August 21st meetup!

T&T Thursday

COLOR

By Alex Zonis

Part 1

Let’s have the good news first: color can be learned! Great colorists of the past – Turner, Delacroix, van Gogh – used the science of color. Their color is no accident or chance.

There are numerous theories and approaches to color out there. Many are helpful and can be used for practical purposes with great success. We will discuss one of them - Color Theory by Johannes Itten. Itten is regarded as a father of modern color theory. Some agree and some argue, but the bottom line is that Itten came up with a system to make using color manageable.

Going back to centuries past we want to mention Isaac Newton who discovered that visible light can be split in color bands using a prism and Count Rumford who discovered that those bands can be combined again to make something close to white light. (More on visible spectrum in Wikipedia) - 

Then it was discovered that an object appears a certain color when white light strikes it because the color of the object is reflected and the remaining light rays are absorbed.

These are fundamentals. More interesting discoveries were made, but what is important for us here is the discovery of subtractive primary colors: red, yellow and blue. This is big! Everything else flows from here. In ideal world adding any two of these primary colors produces a secondary color:

Red + Yellow = Orange

Yellow + Blue = Green

Red + Blue = Purple

Basic Theory, Color Equations and Triads

In basic color theory the primary color cannot be mixed or made from other colors. All other colors can be created from the primaries. Our color equations look like this:

Note 3 primaries, 3 secondaries, and 6 tertiary colors. They are organized into 3 basic types of triads (primary triad, secondary triad and 2 tetriary triads). These triads make a complete color wheel of 12 colors. If we take these colors and position them in a circle, we will get a simplified color wheel!

Now this begins to look like something we have seen before. How many of us have an object like this among our art supplies, probably stuffed in the back somewhere because it made irritatingly little sense?

Perhaps now it will make a little more sense! Dig it out and take a look - there is some really neat information on it!

If you are like me, you probably scrolled ahead, past the theoreticals, and are looking for good practical stuff.  This is the good practical stuff – color schemes!

Color Schemes

Leafing through your sketchbook you will likely note the similarity of colors on your various sketches. We tend to find something that works for us, satisfies our aesthetics to some degree, and we then run with it.

How can we expand our vision on colors, get out of out boundaries of habit? Regardless of the media we use - paint, markers, color pencils - we can use the logical relationships of colors on the color wheel to control and expand our palette. This is where color schemes come into play.

Color schemes are based on color similarities or differences, and usually feature a dominant color. 

• Color schemes based on similarity are monochromatic (one color in different values) or analogues (colors that are neighbors on the color wheel). 

• Color schemes based on difference are composed of complementary or triadic relationships, they are opposites or triangles on the wheel.

An exception is a pure color contrasted with a neutral – white, gray or black.

Here are some example sketches for each of the 8 color schemes:

Note how much variety of middle tones Don uses in this sketch. This variety creates the richness even though the drawing is monochromatic.

This is my sketch, I use an analogous color scheme from dark red-brown through orange to yellow. This set of colors creates harmony. One speck of green punctuates this harmony, but we will discuss this in the next chapter.

Complementary color schemes usually have an added benefit of simplifying the image, like here a fairly complex market scene depicted in yellows and purples appears calm and relaxed.

Many have seen this amazing yellow plane at Architectural Artifacts at our sketch crawl. What makes this sketch successful is its pure Triadic color scheme executed in primary colors. Yes, I made the brick wall more red and designs on the rug more blue to make the triad more obvious.

An interesting variety results when we can split a complement into two colors. The image become richer and more complex.

Notice how yellow, yellow-orange and orange are balanced out by blue-violet shadows and recesses give the eye a resting point.

When I teach color class, students find that this color scheme the most puzzling. That is until they realize that this is just two pairs of complements that are adjacent or next to each other on the color wheel. Like here:  yellow and violet is one pair, and yellow-orange and blue-violet is the second pair. That's all there is to it, complicated name non-withstanding.

See how the main colors of this sketch red-orange, yellow, blue-green and violet are positioned on a color wheel. They form a rectangle, this makes it a tetradic color scheme. Tetradic is a well balanced scheme, and this quality can be used to balance a composition.

T&T Thursday

Are You Ready?

By Barbara Weeks

It looks like there’s a light at the end of the Covid tunnel! During the pandemic Urban Sketchers-Chicago has been happy to welcome many new members to our group. The Urban Sketchers manifesto says “we draw on location”. It’s my hope we’ll be able to gather together and do that soon!  In the meantime we can sketch outside on our own. Please wear a mask and follow social distancing guidelines.

Some new members are new not just to USk-Chicago but to sketching in public as well. Those who have never sketched in public may be a bit weary, at least I was when I first started drawing out in the open. It may also give us veteran Urban Sketchers some pause since most of us are a little out of practice drawing in public.

A few things I’ve learned:

What equipment do you need?

Keep your gear to the minimum. It’s easier to manage in small spaces, easier to keep track of and easier to gather up when the day is done. 

Here are two of my on-the-go kits.

1. Always with Me Kit. 

I keep it in my purse for those random chances to sketch (on line at the post office, waiting for the bus, etc.) 

2. Intentional Sketch-Outing Kit.

It’s what I use when urban sketching.

Where to Sketch (Anywhere!)? 

Inside a coffee shop is a great place to sketch especially when you’re just starting out. So many people are busy on their computers, tablets or phones they don’t even notice what you’re doing. 
Added benefits - you have a comfortable seat, a table and something to eat or drink! 

Outside, try to fine a spot where people can’t come up behind you. Position yourself with a wall, corner or post at your back. It gives you something to lean on, too.
Be brave , bring a camping stool and just pick a spot to sit and sketch. This works inside, too.

What about the public? 

• People are curious when they see someone sketching. They’re also usually very complimentary and respectful.

• Children are fascinated and love to watch.

• If you don’t want to be interrupted wear ear buds and listen to music (or pretend to) and avoid eye contact.

• Sketch with friends. There is a comfortability in numbers. 

Benefits of Urban Sketching:

• Sharpened powers of observation.

• Learn to work quickly.

• Teaches you to take risks and improvise to get the sketch down. 

• Overcome self-consciousness and become a more decisive painter.

• Have fun meeting and learning from other sketchers.

Post your location sketches on our FaceBook page. The encouragement and feed back from other urban sketchers is invaluable.

“Show the world one sketch at a time!”

When we’re back to regular USk Chicago meets the current date and place is posted on our FaceBook page, Instagram, and here on the blog. There’s also a tab “Sketch Crawls” on this blog’s navigation bar that will tell you where and when we’re meeting next.