So here is my problem:  the final project of the semester is to paint a symbolic self portrait using a color scheme of 4 tints.  Four!  I have to create my “self color scheme” by creating 4 hues that are purely my own (shades of red, green, brown, etc.) and give the new hues names that express my personality traits (like “determination red”).  So, how to create a decent painting with a 4 color scheme?

Project Thoughts:

My original thought for the symbolic self portrait was to draw the figure of a woman rising from flame.  The woman would be nude, but with no body details, instead being like a carving of a figure made of wood.  Her arms and hair would be raised to the sky and stem out into the branches of a tree. 

Unfortunately, I can not think of a four color scheme that will do the image justice.  I thought of using variations of

The color scheme sounds too basic for the feel that the image.  I feel as if more hues are necessary.  Maybe that is the point, to limit us to the simple so that we really have to focus on what we are really forced to focus on these four tints. 

Whatever the point, I am still not sure about using a four color scheme.  It makes me feel claustrophobic, as if someone has tied my hands and feet and I am unable to move.  An artist shouldn’t be limited!

But an artist should be able to accomplish anything.  Isn’t that the real definition of an artist?  A creator?  An artist should be able to take any images, color schemes, media…anything and make it into something new and intense. 

This is my goal.  Create the image in my mind, using the restrictions set upon me, and paint something emotional, beautiful, unique.  I will beat the limitations set by this four color scheme!

------Updated------

Here is the image, decide for yourselves if it is any good.  Sorry about the crappy state of the picture, my digital camera didn't like the lighting.  After talking to my teacher, I discovered that I somehow missed that we could use 4-6 colors.  I ended up using:   Red Yellow Tan Brown Black and Grey

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How it Started:

White shading on black paper is perhaps my second favorite art form (my first favorite being oil pastels).  This is something that I have spent so much time on that I was actually given a sketchbook of black paper for Christmas two years ago.

I was first introduced to white shading in an art class at college.  My teacher gave us all a white graphite pencil with black poster board and set up a still life of a Greek statue, the oh-so-famous one with no arms, by a black backdrop.  He set the spot lights, and then set us to work.  When I started, I felt I would hate it.  It was very difficult to pick up, because errors were not easy to erase.

As I got going though, I loved it for just that reason.  White shading is extremely difficult for beginners, which made my initial sketches improve.  I was so used to creating horrid sketches and editing them as I went, that this forced improvement became a god-send.

Where I took it:

Now I have created many different black paper and white shading drawings.  I have drawn dragons, wolves, and unicorns all in this media.  My most recent white shading picture is my favorite, however.

With a black poster board, I created a dreamscape.  The bottom third of the picture was where the white shading was located, and it illustrated an adolescent female character asleep on her homework.  The top two-thirds of the picture was done in oil pastels and formed a rainbow nebula (colored cloud).  Inside this nebula was the image of the white shading characters dream, ocean waves breaking against the beach.

What I have learned:

One thing that I have learned from doing white shading is that you want to start with a regular graphite pencil.  This creates a light, hard-to-see outline of the picture and the white shading can be placed on top of the outline.  Also, most errors can be covered with black colored pencil or lightened with a gum eraser. 

I hope that one day everyone will try this media, and bring white shading into popularity!

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