This class is available as either an intense two day lecture/workshop, or as a week-long workshop. For scheduling and pricing information call 505 982-4561

Also available as THE HORSE IN THREE COLORS

You will delight in the freedom and ease that this system brings to your work. Avoid bad color habits. Learn good color habits. Enjoy mixing just the color you need. I will help you to simplify your palette and concentrate on your statement.

PAINTING WITH JUST THE PRIMARIES: BLUE, RED, AND YELLOW (Plus white, in oil and acrylic)

The monitor you are reading this on is capable of making 16.8 million colors using just red, green and blue light. With three pigments, a Blue, a Red, and a Yellow, we will be able to do even more!

The lessons you learn in this class will apply equally to any other subject you  choose to paint, including any backgrounds and people in your horse paintings.

Whatever your subject, and whether you work in oil, acrylic, or watercolor, this system will simplify, clarify and enable your color mixing.

In addition to horses, I have painted colorful Hopi Kachinas using this three pigment system, and I have painted still lifes that have ranged from Lemons on a Serape, to a Mexican Watermelon,  to Little Green Apples, and I always have the color I need, without having to search a crowded palette or make an emergency run to the art supply store.

This 20 by 30 foot mural and this 2.5 by 5 inch watercolor sketch, were both  painted using  the same three pigments.

Do you just give up and paint the horse black, after deciding whether to use Lamp Black, Coal Black, Brand B Black, etc? Do you try using something simple like Burnt Umber with a little Yellow Ochre and White for the light?

 

This class can solve those problems for you. I have been painting horses for thirty years, using just three pigments, whether working in oil, acrylic, (with white added, of course) or watercolor. My method is simple, effective, and inexpensive. Buy only the paints you need. Use all the paints you buy. No more mud. No more confusion. You'll learn to get clean, clear, translucent grays. You'll get deep, velvety blacks or hard, shiny blacks, and subtle changes within your blacks. You'll learn how easy it can be to mix colors that are clean and pure and complex, yet easily mixed.

Shopping can be fun, especially in an art supply store. But are you sometimes bewildered by the giant array of colors, with their exotic sounding names and the inconsistency between brands?

When you get them back to the studio do you often find that you still don’t have a color called Backlit Chestnut Horse on a Lightly Overcast Day in August? And when you try mixing, say, Burnt Sienna with Payne’s Gray, and Aureolin Yellow, with a little Manganese Blue and eight or nine other colors to get that effect you’re after, do you end up with a muddy mess, instead?

If you are just starting out, this class could save you years of confusion and difficulty. If you are already an accomplished painter, you will be familiar with the problems. You may be frightened by the prospect of giving up old habits and old favorites and trying something new. Don’t be. This class will open your eyes to easier, quicker and surer ways to express yourself and the world around you.

This class is about color, and applies equally to oil, watercolor, and acrylic.  Bring to class the medium you are familiar and comfortable with, and/or bring the medium you wish to learn more about.

 

You may use any brand, it's the particular pigment that the color is made of that matters, not the brand or the brand name.

 

Our Taos gallery recently sponsored a show with the Taos National Watercolor Society, in which M. Graham watercolors were supplied by the manufacturer. These fine watercolors are made with the addition of honey, which keeps them moist longer. At first, I was reluctant, because I like to squeeze watercolor into my palette and let it dry, forming a cake, which I re-wet as needed. These paints took several days to dry sufficiently to travel. However, when I used them, I found them to be a genuine pleasure to paint with, and have been using them exclusively ever since.

 

I  recently started using M. Graham oils, as well,  because they are made using Walnut Oil instead of Linseed Oil, and are therefore solvent free. This means they can travel under current restrictions, and do not pose the health hazards inherent in solvent based oils.

 

M. Graham oils are also less prone to yellowing with age than those  containing linseed oil.  I have used them with Liquin, my preferred medium, and am currently experimenting with M. Graham walnut oil as both medium and brush cleaner, as well as their faster drying Walnut Oil Alkyd, which dries faster.

 

So far, I have been very satisfied with this combination.

 

I find I'm also appreciating the fact that I can find all three of my preferred primaries, in all media, under one brand name. This makes shopping for paint much simpler and faster. That way, I can spend a lot more time looking at brushes, pochade boxes, etc.

 

Check them out at: http://mgraham.com

 

Whatever brand and medium you choose, you should bring:

 

Thalo (Phthalocyanine) Blue

 

Cadmium Yellow Light

 

Napthol PR 112 Red

 

( Read the fine print on the tube. There are other Napthol Reds. They won't work. This is the one that is a true red, and does not lean toward the orange or purple side of the spectrum.)

 

These are the ONLY colors you'll need. In fact, any additional color will simply introduce confusion into the mix and defeat the purpose of the course.

 

Bring the brushes and other equipment you are familiar with.

 

If you're just getting started, here are some suggestions:

 

For oils:

 

I recommend you start with M. Graham. We'll all breathe better in class!!!

 

For oils, I've used glass, paper, wood, plastic, and other palettes over the years, and have come to prefer a small, wooden, hand held palette.

 

Here's the way I lay out my colors:

 

BLUE / RED  / YELLOW / WHITE  

 

I use just about every kind and size of brush, and have lately been painting oils almost exclusively with round synthetic brushes, sizes  20 and 10, Artisans brand available at: http://www.artisan-santafe.com/.

 

I also occasionally use a size 10 flat, but not often.

 

For acrylics, I would suggest the same.

 

For Watercolor, I currently favor using Artisans' round synthetics, sizes 26, 12, and 8.

 

I have some very expensive brushes, which I almost never use

 

Use the brushes you're most comfortable/familiar with.

 

Beyond this, you will need tissues, water container for watercolors, comfortable clothes and all the usual travel necessities.

 

Be sure to check back, as I'll be adding to this list as I think of more info to add.

 

Note: I just realized that I have reversed the order of the layout on the watercolor palette since this photo was taken to match the layout on my oil palette.

 

A painter with a contemporary eye and a traditional hand, John Farnsworth has been a full time artist for over forty years. His works are in  private and corporate collections here and abroad... A full-time professional painter and photographer since the 1960's, he has worked in acrylic, oil, and watercolor using only the primaries since 1978. His subjects range from people to places, from still-life to horses. He is represented in New Mexico by Farnsworth Gallery Taos and Farnsworth Gallery Santa Fe and by Adagio Galleries, Palm Springs, CA, ZForrest Gallery, Tubac, Arizona, and Pierson Gallery, Tulsa, OK.

 

 

"Who dares to teach must never cease to learn." (John Cotton Dana)

ART YOU CAN LIVE WITH

Here’s a recent painting, MOLLY BROWN, a 16 x 20 oil painted on oil primed Belgian linen using just the three pigments in my (Un)Limited Palette, with M. Graham’s Titanium White (Alkyd Formulation) and Liquin Original.

And this is a detail from the painting, showing the variety of colors that can be achieved without the muddiness caused by mixing strange chemical, vegetal, and dye colors together. Below the detail, you’ll find a larger version of LEMONS ON A SERAPE. As you will see, a full range of rich, clear colors are available to you with this palette, as well as warm browns, translucent, delicate greys, and a rich, vibrant. limitless variety of blacks.