In this video I am utilizing Indigo again as the main color of the painting. This time however, I am adding some cooler colors and a complementary color (just for those who didn’t like me using a monochromatic color scheme). Here are the colors I used (All Golden Heavy Body Acrylics): Titanium White, Buff Titanium, Burnt Sienna, Teal, Anthraquinone Blue, Mars Balck, Minty G (which is my own custom mix). Keep in mind that what I am calling Indigo is a mix of Anthraquinone Blue and Mars Black. The black helps take the edge off the intensity and cools it just a bit to make a nice Indigo Blue.

Hello Everyone! It’s been awhile since I’ve shown up on video, or in my vlog. For those that are new subscribers, I’m David Kessler-an abstract painter and art instructor.

My last vlog entry was February of 2022, the 278th straight week of videos written and produced by me. I owe you an explanation of my absence over this nearly 2 year period. I had gotten to a point where my work was stale and it seemed I was doing the same thing in each painting, just going through the motions with no real movement forward. COVID had also come along and disrupted my travel and teaching schedule. I tried the Zoom lessons and all that, but it wasn’t the same as traveling to teach folks in person, one to one. I needed to recharge my creative spirit, and art wasn’t working for me. So I turned back to my first love, architecture.

If we study the old masters’ paintings we can see that they used a structural hierarchy that created paintings with areas of more importance and less importance. The more important areas we may think of today as a center of interest (or area of dominance or focal point or area of interest, etc.). The video shows just a few examples of some of my favorites. You can Google images of old masters’ paintings and have a look yourself.

I get asked over and over by students: “How do I know if a color is cool or warm?” So, I thought I would address that question in this video.

All colors have a warmer or cooler version. To keep things simple, the video reviews only primary colors - the major primary paint colors that all paint manufacturers make.

Thank you for the support over the last 5-1/2 years that I have been producing weekly videos. Beginning in 2022 I will not be making videos and sending emails every week. I will produce at least one video per month (like I did prior to 2016).

What do you think separates professional artists from amateur artists? We could probably list 20-25 things, but I think it really comes down to only two things.

The painting exercise shown in the video is a great one if you want to relax and paint, have fun, get loose, or study colors and composition for a larger painting. The key is to keep the color selections simple and not mix much, if any, color on the palette.

This week’s video has me painting again in light and shadow shapes using two values to investigate shape making. Shapes are one of the core building blocks of painting, and creating paintings with only two values, concentrating on making only light and shadow is a great exercise in learning about shapes.

I love to paint in only two values - the value of the light and the value of the shadow. I discovered this technique about 20 years ago as a way to learn to make and paint shapes. Anyone who has ever taken a course from me knows that I always emphasize the importance of making good shapes in a painting. Shapes are one of the core building blocks of painting.

In nearly every workshop I teach at least one student will confuse green and blue-green. Phthalo Green and Viridian Green are common and made by most all paint manufacturers, so students bring it thinking that if it says '“green” on the tube they can use it for green.