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THE IMPASTO OIL PAINTING CLASS

I have been fortunate to have a very successful Impasto Oil Painting class that ended this Spring. I offered the class through the Bangor Adult and Community Education division at Bangor High School. I painted 10 studies made using the Italian Black Oil Wax medium that I make myself and rendering them in mostly various sizes of palette knives and sometimes brushes and fingers. I put them all on eBay to sell in auction, and all of them sold with the exception of This beautiful painting above. The lesson was based on the Zorn palette restricting the painted to only using 4 colors. I used Williamsburg Cold Black, Titanium White, Cadmium Red Light, and Yellow Ochre. I have recently reduced the starting bid price to $200.00 not only because I am so thankful of the support my subscribers has given me over the last year, but because I know not all of you will want to buy a painting in a gallery that is marked it up into the hundreds of dollars. So let the bidding begin! If you can look beyond the fact that it is a foggy day on Mohegan Island and you are not totally sick of all the wet weather we've been having, than someone is going to get a honey of a painting that I like very much myself. I have noticed that when we are in the cold of winter, people complain that it is too cold. They complain that they are sick of the snow. When we finally get beyond mud season in the Spring we complain of the cool wind on a bright sunny day and say it is too chilly. They complain that they should have worn a coat. A week ago they complain that they are sick of the rain. But when we finally get into the summer months and we get one of those high humidity days in the 90's we will be wanting a cool breeze on our brow, the dampness of a cool cloth and free of mosquitos and the infamous Black flies. Then you might remember this painting and how beautiful the greenish granite rocks look, with all their blue, red, and ochre accents, on a cool foggy day. Enjoy the lesson that comes with the painting.

Lesson 2: PAINTING WITH A LOW KEY PALETTE

"Gull Rock in the Fog, Monhegan Island, Maine"

an oil on cradled gypsum board 8 x 10 inches by Michael E. Vermette

The Zorn palette refers to a palette of colors attributed to the great Swedish artist, Anders Zorn (18 February 1860 - 22 August 1920). It consists of just 4 colors being Yellow Ochre, Ivory Black, Vermilion and Titanium white. Cadmium red light is commonly used in place of vermilion by modern day artists and Cold Black is used instead of Ivory Black. This may seem like an extremely limited range of colors, but Zorn demonstrated through his paintings just what is possible with such a limited palette

How Does The Zorn Palette Work? 

The Zorn palette works as follows: White and black can be used for changes in value.

1. Today's Ivory black is a relatively warm black appearing to have a brownish feeling, and it is not the Ivory Black that Zorn used in his day. He did use an Ivory Black but it was a cooler version and Williamsburg Cold Black comes the closest. Cold Black can be used as a very dark substitute for blue or if you don't have this color mix a little Indigo with Ivory black to make it colder. In a very real sense, you can think of Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Red light and Cold Black as a version of the primary colors: Yellow, Red, and Blue. 2. Cadmium red light is the most saturated color on the palette. Outside of that, the Zorn palette is not known for a vivid color scheme. 3. The lack of blue seems to be the biggest limitation. The closest thing to blue is a cool gray made from Cold Black and Titanium White or Ivory Black. However 17 tubes of Cobalt Blue were found in Anders Zorn's studio among with cadmium Yellow and Viridian Green. So if there was a fifth to seventh color it would have been these in particular in his landscapes.

PRO'S: The Zorn palette is a great learning tool because it limits the number of possible color choices but allows a wide range of colors to create a stunning realistic painting. Ideally, a painter should begin with a monochrome palette (no color), then progress to the Zorn palette. You must really learn how to utilize value rather than color to emphasize form when painting with such a limited palette of colors. Value is thought to be the most important element of a color, so it is important that you have a firm understanding of it before you try to handle more complex color palettes. The limitations of the Zorn Palette are:CON'S: The Zorn palette does not enable you to mix saturated greens or purples. The color saturation of the palette is generally very dull, so you need to work mostly with browns and grays. It is not overly suitable for high key landscape painting due to the lack of color. Instead, the Zorn palette seems to be outstanding for overcast or foggy day in the landscape or for an interior. Otherwise, this color palette is the power house color selection for realists.

THE LESSON: Make a painting using a limited low key palette such as Anders Zorn's. Begin by finding a good photo that is of a overcast or foggy day. Do a drawing first to preplan and establish where the paint pieces will go. Mix up you colors using warm and cool gray versions of the Zorn colors which are 1. Cadmium Red Light, or Vermillion 2. Yellow Ochre 3.Cold Black or a mix of Indigo with Ivory Black. 4.Titanium White or Flake White 5. Cobalt Blue (if needed and sparingly). Try to paint as many color combinations that you see using these 4 to 5 colors. When you paint make sure it is with impasto strokes with a loaded brush or a palette knife to lay in your blobs of colors and shapes. Remember to mix Black Oil Wax medium with every paint mixture before applying to the canvas or substrate, up to 50% but no greater. This will improve the viscosity and preserve the integrity of the marks and shape made with the brush or palette knife. The Zorn Palette should give you successful results, so remember to have fun with it.

Painters to check out: Anders Zorn, and Modern Welsh artist Kyffin Williams.

Have a wonderful week everyone,

Michael E. Vermette