The Munsell Color System for Artists

[Mike McCarty]

But that ain't me! For me, art is hard. I have to learn in order to do, and I have to do and do and do in order to do with any proficiency at all.

You got that right Michael.

It ain't me either, for some reason I continue to come up with these correlations between art and music. I wasn't meaning any disrespect for the learning and the knowing.

[Steven Sweeney]

Thank you, gentlemen. That should be enough information to keep me busy and out of trouble for a couple of years. (Hope springs eternal.)

[Khaimraj Seepersad]

Thank you, Michael.

I am afraid I still have problems with all the terminology of describing colours. It is actually easier for me to just key from nature. Presently,
using a cartoon with correct tonal values and an
oil colour study with an accurate colour/tone is doing the job.

From the Munsell system,I have borrowed the idea
of a value system(1 to 10 black and white) with the pigments I use on either side of the tonal diagram. Having returned to the described painting system of Van Dyck,I am looking for any other bits to keep making the work more efficient.

[Sharon Knettell]

I do know one. He is a friend of mine.

We both studied under the same teacher in Providence RI, Eugene Tonoff. Bill does the most sensuous, unexpected color compostions. He does mostly non-traditional florals. I was totally desperate about a background color on a piece to be in Ladies Home Journal. He nonchalantly ripped off a piece of light green toilet paper and said "here, this should work"! It was perfect!

The only color theory he and I learned formally from Eugene, was complementary colors and to study the color relationships in Persian miniatures and Japanese and Chinese art.

I do not personally use the color wheel, but I use fabric, scraps of paper, anything to come up wth a color scheme. It has to vibrate. It is viceral and intuitive. You cannot reason your way through a color scheme. Color is beyond reasoning, it is emotion. This may sound silly to some, but you have to be completely there when you are working, you have to be the color. For some this may take years, others immediately, some never.

If you note the background on Persian miniatures, they are neutral, that is why they can combine so many colors sucessfully. I have bought some Chinese antique silk textiles, the colors are amazing and seem to defy all laws of color.

I don't mind, or advocate the Munsell or any other system, based on temperature or otherwise. I personally find them confusing. I don't think the artists of the Ming dynasty or Persian miniatures had color wheels or had a knowledge of color temperature. Those studies were done in the late 1900's. I don't think even the impressionists had them, maybe a color wheel.

I will take a day or more sometimes to just get a background color right. Sometimes minutes. A little pthalo, a little alizarin, perhaps some white, a touch of cadmium. It is like music.

Sincerely,

[Khaimraj Seepersad]

Sharon,

I tend to use living things, (leaves, trees, shrubs, flowers) or the inanimate (rocks, exposed hills and the sky) for colour schemes. Nature I find is always creative here.

[Marvin Mattelson]

Mike,

The ability to mix on the fly is an ability that is most often developed with experience. Categorizing color by hue, value and chroma allows for a more objective analysis than trying to remember formulas. Reilly developed a palette which offered the opportunity to be able to remix any color and have it match perfectly. I have adapted the Reilly palette for my own purposes (having substituted some of my own colors) but I still apply the same principles. The point of learning any discipline is to ultimately allow one the flexibility to experience total freedom.

Michael,

I studied the Reilly system for ten years (part time) with John Frederick Murray who studied with Reilly for 5 years (full time). The Reilly system is a very complex curriculum which covers not only painting but drawing and picture making in great depth. I don

[Sharon Knettell]

Khaimraj,

Oh yes, nature! I get some of my color inspiration just observing nature and everyday things.

Color is visual, not intellectual!

Sincerely,

[Marvin Mattelson]

The beauty of the Munsell system of color notation is that it allows one to quickly identify a color. This greatly simplifies the task of mixing or matching what you see. This is true for any color observed, be it from nature, fabric samples or whatever. It is a roadmap, nothing more, nothing less.. Anyone who tries to conceptualize what any given color should be, based on theory or whatever, is sacrificing an opportunity to bring more life into their art.

[Khaimraj Seepersad]

Marvin,

thank you for the direction given. The way I was trained, mixing and matching colour/tone was not a problem. If I am looking at something directly from life, it is already there. I don't paint from photographs, so my research has only dealt with
direct observation.

What I have been researching, is how to effectively translate from a charcoal cartoon keyed to nature, to a canvas.After reading what has been written here, I think I have had the answer all along.It's the oil colour study.

Thanks to all for finally making crystal clear, an
idea that I have been chewing on for a long time.

[Michael Georges]

Marvin:

Covino has spoken of Reilly, but I am not sure if he was directly a student or a peer. Clearly the color and value system, and controlled palette are definate similarities, and clearly Covino has created his own path and taken strides down it. Right or wrong is not for me to decide.

So even while I have set aside some of what I learned from Covino in favor of my own path - I don't use his medium and I don't do many verdaccios anymore - the color and value system was so valuable to me that I will use it till the day I die! What I learned from Covino saved me 20 years of banging my head against a wall.