Getting the Light Right: The Power of the Color Study

Every landscape painting I do begins with a color study. It’s a practice I adopted not long after college when my interest in painting the color of light was in its formative stages. Now, whether I’m doing a small painting in the open air, or a more developed piece in the studio, the color study is an integral part of my process. Without it, I would not be able to face the audacious goal of translating light into paint.

Although color is highly subjective, it is anything but random. The color study is an extension of the idea that color is intentional. As landscape painters, we naturally “borrow” the color relationships we find in nature, but we also rely on color strategies — specific color relationships that can be used as a formula for building our color composition.

For example, we might use one of the hue interactions, such as an analogous harmony or complementary. We might use bright saturated colors, or develop a harmony based on neutral colors. Or use strong value contrasts as a Tonalist might, or lighter value contrasts as an Impressionist might. A color study also helps you determine which particular pigments will best create those relationships and mixtures.

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Also see The Complete Color Strategy, Chapter 6 in The Landscape Painter’s Workbook: Essential Studies in Shape, Composition, and Color.

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I’ve always been surprised by the artist who dives into a painting without having a clear color plan. It’s true that many color relationships are worked out during the course of the painting, but the clearer your plan is at the outset, the more likely it is that you will arrive at an effective color solution in the end. The color study is a way to test that plan. Color studies take extra time, and to some they may seem like an overly formal process, but there is no better way to expand your color vision and flex your color mixing muscles than with color studies. They can be fun, practical, and very rewarding.

Befriending the Color Study

When I reflect on so many years of doing color studies, I can think of at least five ways they have helped my practice. I’ll outline each of these benefits, and then talk about the two different types of color studies.

1. Getting the light right. In landscape, each painting is typically pegged to a moment in time and a particular color of the light. Color studies are a great way to determine which color-light works best for a particular subject. When painting outdoors, I respond to nature. Like the Impressionists, I try to capture the colors as I see them — even though I know that perfect matches are not possible. Here the color study serves as a way for me test which pigments and color mixes will translate the color of the light in that particular subject. In the studio, surrounded by four walls and artificial light, I cannot respond to nature in the same way. Instead, my approach to color must be part ly invented. I rely on photographs and collected memories of sunlight on certain subjects at certain times of day. I am willing to experiment, which is the whole point of the color study. Also see The Gifts of Plein Air – Living Color through Direct Observation.

2. A colorful warmup. Color studies are the perfect warmup exercise. Think of them as a painted  thumbnails. Not only do you familiarize yourself with the colors, but the basic design and sketch establishes the basic composition and color groups. The smaller the sketch, the more painterly it is likely to be.

3. No pressure! 
Psychologically, a small study is a low-pressure exercise. You are less likely to be invested in a small “disposable” study than you will be with a larger studio piece. The study is a safe avenue to explore (and get lost) without a large time commitment or attachment to the outcome. Of course, color studies sometimes come out very well and are mini-masterpieces in their own right. They may be entirely salable at a studio sale or a small works exhibit.

4. Beyond photographic color. Many landscape painters work from photographs. There is nothing inherently wrong with this practice — as long as it’s done properly. Far too many artists do nothing more than copy the color they see in the photo, which circumvents the act of translating or inventing color. A series of color studies can liberate you from the single and often limited option proposed by the photograph’s color. Studies force you to try alternate strategies and encourage you to be more creative with your color choices. (Also see Using Photographs Like an Artist.)

TYPES OF COLOR STUDIES

The Targeted Color Study – Finding the Optimal Strategy

In the targeted color study, your reference will be from either a photo or from life. In other words, you are targeting your color study toward a specific scene. What color strategy, pigments, and color mixes will best capture the color effect you are after? The goal is to work out the color in a simple, rough study before you tackle the larger painting. You may do a number of targeted studies, but they all work toward a color solution for a particular painting. See “Get the Light Right,” above. 

The Exploratory Color Study – Stretching Your Boundaries

We are so used to trying to paint the colors we see, it’s easy to become restricted in our ability to be inventive with color. This is where the exploratory color study exercise comes in. It’s different than a targeted study in that you aren’t trying to find the optimal color plan for a single painting; rather, you are expanding your color vocabulary by coming up with as many color schemes as possible for that subject. You may in fact come up with a strategy that is so exciting that you will be compelled to use it in a larger painting, but for the most part, the point of this exercise is to flex your color mixing muscles. It’s the jazz of color studies. This is a challenging exercise, even for the seasoned painter, because it calls upon everything you know about hue interactions, value contrasts, and color saturation to come up with so many different color schemes.

Tips for Exploratory Color Studies

• Work small and don’t get bogged down with detail. The smaller you work, the less you will be able to fuss with detail. How much does precision and accuracy play in this type of study? Not much. The study will only capture a general suggestion of shapes and no detail at all. What is important is to define the basic color groups and how they relate to each other. Marla Bagetta’s “Going for 100” studies (below) were about 10 inches, well suited to her style. But I would recommend even smaller, perhaps 4 or 5 inches. My Peak studies, shown at the end, are just 4 inches.
• Use a black and white photo. Without a color reference, you will have less of an urge to follow your preconceived idea of what the color scheme should look like … and be freer to be experimental with your strategies.
• Choose a subject that is super simple and can be easily repeated without challenging you on drawing.
• Be exploratory. Don’t tell yourself that you can’t or shouldn’t try certain color combinations. Try all the various color strategies: every combination of complementary or split-complementary, and various analogous harmonies. Explore the tonalist or neutral palettes. What colors would you use to turn day into night, or make the subject a sunrise or sunset? If there are color families you have avoided in the past, now is the time to test them out. 
• Work with two or three color groups. If you study any of the examples below, you’ll see that they all work with a limited set of color groups or families. Color grouping is a sure fire way of maintaining harmony — and keeping the overall color scheme simple. Also see The Power of Color Grouping in Landscape Painting.
• Quality vs. quantity.  The more studies you do, the more interesting — and informative — the exercise becomes. However, 15 studies that have only minor variations of color are not as meaningful as five studies that are radically different in their color. If you run out of ideas, find a painting by another artist with a successful color strategy, and apply those colors to your study.
• Leave white space between the studies. If you are ganging up several studies on a single sheet, fine, but leave some space in between each study so they are surrounded by a little white, as the example here do. 

Below: Marla Baggetta, “Going for 100,” 2009, pastel and mixed media on paper. Seventy-two of 103 studies, 10 x 10″ each.

Below: Corina Linden, 2014, “Color Studies, River Valley” 4 x 3″ each. Corina Linden was a participant in my Landscape Essentials workshop several years ago. 

Below: Mitchell Albala, Color Studies, Peak, 4″ x 3.5″ each. This set of exploratory studies were done for the sheer pleasure of playing with color. There was no intended final painting. These only took about 15 minutes each. Because they are so small, just 4 x 3.5 inches, the brushstrokes are relatively large and gestural.