Find Color In Black and White

Camera Obscura machines of the 17th and 18th centuries helped artists to unite the tone of their paintings. The image seen through the lens of a camera obscura appears softer and the colors are slightly subdued giving a more unified feeling of tone. Vermeer and others capitalized on these effects. Today we  manipulate photos to resemble antique photo or camera obscura effects. When we strip the color from an image and heighten the contrasts of black and white the resul has a classic or older appearance, almost antique.

I removed the color from some photographs and converted them into higher  contrast black and whites. Experience a more adventurous, innovative and personal  color palette when referencing  a black and white  image as you start a painting  Looking at  B&W monochromes I was released from bonds of imitative color and prescriptive color.

The process begins with a standard color photo of a marsh which is  converted to black and white. Next I drive up the contrast with darker shadows and brighter highlights. The resulting black and white image appears in example 1. After considering this black and white photo I tried a demonstration image in front of students. This image was only 12×12, an oil on anodized aluminum. From this experiment I decided to make another larger 24×24 oil on anodized aluminum (example 2). To begin I further simplified the design. I interrupted the darker areas with a few crosshatched strokes of brighter color to energize the image. I further blended the misty background to unify the image and offer the inevitable feeling of mystery that fog provides. Next, I changed surfaces and sizes moving to a 46×48 oil on canvas (example 3). I  simplified the image still further. I must wait   for drying to apply colored glaze effects and other layers of gesture and texture.

example 1. marsh photo.

example 2. 12×12 demonstration oil paint image

example 3. 24×24 larger oil paint image

example 4. 46×48 largest oil  on canvas

Looking at a black and white image  liberates my re-design and re-definition impulses. I convert the particular information in the background to misty uncertainty as you see in examples 5 (the black and white photo) and  6 (the painting as it departs from the photograph).

example 5. photo of marsh grass.

example 6. Painting

Examples 7, 8, an 9 present the sequence of the image as it moved from color photo to black and white to the reconfigured painted image.

example 7. color photo

example 8. black and white photo of same

example 9. Close analogous harmony in blue and green oil paint

Examples 10 and 11 offer evidence of  both reinterpreted color from a black and white photo as well as a reconfigured image.

example 10. Black and white photo

example 11. New color palette and altered design

Examples 12 and 13 present a black and white vertical photo which was redesigned into a squared and colored painting relying on pinks in the light and blue-greens in the dark areas.

example 12, vertical BW photo

example 13. Painting converted to square and invested with color.

I hope you are able to join me on April 11th at 11 AM  for a first  trial at an internet live streamed class.  Watch and interact with me in my studio. For instructions visit this website.

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