Tip Tuesday - Do Your Paintings Look Chalky?

"Garden Path" Oil on 8" x 6" panel

Call it what you like - titanium, flake, zinc, radiant - it's a paint tube that every artist shudders at the thought of painting without. It's addictive, need to lighten a color? Add white. Not light enough? Add just a bit more. Still not quite capturing that light? Well, you get the idea.

White can be so addictive in fact that some paintings look like a dirty chalkboard eraser was used on top of them. Sadly, all that bright, vibrant and expensive (paint doesn't grow on trees) color is lost and the painting looses it's impact.

How do you correct this problem? I hope you like turkey because you're going to need a cold dose of it.

Paint without white. There, I said it. Go grab yourself a glass of wine and continue reading when you have fortified yourself.

Obviously, you can't give up painting without white forever but try it for a while and see how far you can get using other colors to lighten your paint mixtures. You'll be surprised at how far various yellows will take you. The bonus is you will also discover color mixtures you never would have tried if you had white on your palette.

Have I done this? Yes, I painted without white for 3 months and I make my students paint without it at least once a year.

The piece above was created entirely without white, my students can vouch for me because it was a class demonstration painting.

Paint on my friends (without white - at least for this week)!