Faber Birren Book
On my journey, I discovered the Birren book, “Creative Color”.
Birren challenged me and my palette. If the palette was no longer separate from the painting, a new world of abstract creativity would evolve, achieving tremendous visual success. In fact, when I wrote to him, enclosing 35mm slides, he thought that I was playing tricks on him by using out-of-focus photographs to achieve the visual results. But, the photographs were accurate!
I strive to have prismatic light come from behind the canvas to the viewer. This is what my paintings achieve. So, I refer to myself as the 'Father of Prismatics'.
By experimenting for more than 40 years, I have made these breakthroughs in color about which Birren writes.
I apply an initial layer of Titanium White, and then a complete layer of Payne's Gray, with areas of Cadmium Yellow, Cadmium Red, Black Ivory, Cadmium Orange, and maybe a few other colors. Then I apply a full covering of Alizarin Crimson, and a final full covering of Thalo Blue. Each color is gently layered, not disturbing the color below. Then, when I begin the palette knife 'cuts,' the colors burst through with luminous and iridescent radiance. The knife pressure is as delicate as a surfer on the waves just skimming the surface. Applying the Alizarin Crimson first and then Thalo Blue gives a warm palette. Reversing the layering, using first the Thalo Blue and then the Alizarin Crimson, fixes a cool palette with more of a geode or diamond effect, shown in the painting above.
Here is a Review of Creative Color by Faber Birren
"The author demonstrates in Creative Color his exciting thesis: A knowledge of perception is the springboard to a far more inventive use of color in art today. By following Creative Color and performing the interesting experiments at the end of every chapter, you learn how to produce--consistently--effects that artists have rarely achieved, and then only by intuition, accident or painful trial-and-error. The illustrations are not meant to be art. They are experiments in producing color effects according to known principles of perception. If such striking effects can be achieved without the slightest attempt of art, think how much more the artist can do with the same knowledge! The author has usefully included a list of Numsell-coded palettes by which his extraordinary color effects may be precisely duplicated."