Who Uses Color?

January 24, 2025  •  Leave a Comment

Reverse Subtraction Painting

Everybody chooses shoes, ties, outfits, home interiors, vehicles, and so on by considering color first. Artists, too, work with color, but sometimes, we don’t get to choose any of the colors we work with. This was the case when my brother Dan asked me to create a series of four paintings of a maple tree, each depicting a different season, for our myersbrothersart.com website. You can view "Winter Maple" in the tree gallery section.

Winter poses an interesting challenge. Typically, it’s snowing outdoors during this season, and snow is white. Since I use white watercolor paper to create my paintings, I was faced with a dilemma: how do you paint white snow on white paper? Mmmm, white on white. Now what?
Dan and I devised a technique we call "reverse subtraction painting." Here’s how it works: I began by painting the red leaves, then added the tree branches. What remained unpainted represented the snow. By doing this, the whiteness of the snow was initially “subtracted” from the composition. As I completed the painting, I reversed my technique, revisiting the beginning and deliberately painting in the snow to bring it to life.

Using white effectively in a painting can be both challenging and rewarding. White can represent light, texture, and subtle contrasts. When painting snow, for example, you can use shadows in light blue or gray to define its shape and depth, giving it dimension against the stark white paper. Highlights can also be enhanced by layering transparent washes or adding specks of color to mimic the reflection of sunlight on snow. Incorporating these techniques can help bring out the beauty and realism of a winter scene.

This approach allowed me to create a winter scene that feels dynamic and textured, despite the challenge of working with so much white. Check out the result in the gallery and see how the reverse subtraction technique brings the "Winter Maple" to life.

Peace and love. Russ Myers

myersbrothersart.com


   


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