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Optical blending versus Blending Paint
CBG
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in Color Mixing
With paints blending a blue paint and a yellow paint gives green, and that blending blue with orange gives grey... green and red also give grey. This is due to paint interacting with light in both subtractive and additive manners.
Optical blending is more akin to purely additive color.. blue amongst yellow is grey (white if at full intensity), blue amongst orange produces a muted purple lilac, and of course red amogst green gives yellow (the brightness depending on the intensity of the green and red of course).
Are there known techniques for playing with the various products of blending by modulating between optical blending and paint blending right on the canvas? Has anyone tried optical blending to achieve more vibrancy? Or to achieve an odd shimmering nonvibrancy (blue and yellow)?
For example maybe I want to create grey... rather than mixing blue and orange I could put blue and yellow next to each other (avoiding mixing some green might be difficult alla prima)?
In another example, if I have an intense orange-red, and an intense blue ... I essentially get grey when actually blended. but next to each other, optical blending should produce a very visible lilac... arguably extending the "optical" range of my palette...
Just curious about the possibilities here.
Optical blending is more akin to purely additive color.. blue amongst yellow is grey (white if at full intensity), blue amongst orange produces a muted purple lilac, and of course red amogst green gives yellow (the brightness depending on the intensity of the green and red of course).
Are there known techniques for playing with the various products of blending by modulating between optical blending and paint blending right on the canvas? Has anyone tried optical blending to achieve more vibrancy? Or to achieve an odd shimmering nonvibrancy (blue and yellow)?
For example maybe I want to create grey... rather than mixing blue and orange I could put blue and yellow next to each other (avoiding mixing some green might be difficult alla prima)?
In another example, if I have an intense orange-red, and an intense blue ... I essentially get grey when actually blended. but next to each other, optical blending should produce a very visible lilac... arguably extending the "optical" range of my palette...
Just curious about the possibilities here.
Comments
https://drawpaintacademy.com/pointillism-art-movement/
@CBG, I'm doing this more and more in my work. For example, when painting rocks as I'm doing now, the overall effect with a bit of distance is a pink-gray. Instead of mixing this gray colour I lay in small strokes of green and pink with flecks or blue here and there. In darker areas the blues and pinks become orange and violet with flecks of darker green. As you say, this gives a sort of visual vibration to the painting. It also suggests the texture of the rocks. This effect is not possible by painting the rocks in flat colour. When I post my next painting it will be easier to see what I mean. I really like this effect but, with a large painting, the pointillist-like technique can be mind numbingly tedious.
“I really like this effect but, with a large painting, the pointillist-like technique can be mind numbingly tedious”
Which must lead you to conclude…..What’s the point.
Delacroix created a sensation with this painting the Barque of Dante, with his droplets of water simply created by four colours juxtapositioned creating the 3d illusion of the drop and shadow. Exactly what you're saying. Some suggest this sparked impressionism.
Yes, I think it's fair to say that Delacroix was a precursor or forerunner of Impressionism. He was very popular with the Australian tonal impressionists.