Because David Eichenburg Asked...

...here is my best attempt at explaining to others how I use color swatches to control color. I paint primarily in three layers. The first two layers are opaque paint. As I paint the first layer, roughing in the shapes and trying to get a general idea of color, I record all of the paint colors I used on the swatch of primed birch panel. You can see the first layer's colors on the left third of the swatch. Once I've had time to study the finished first layer and have decided where I want the painting to go, I sand it smooth. As I mix up colors for the second layer of paint, I can quickly reference them against the first layer's mixed colors. I either match them to the first layer if I lucked into getting it right the first time, or more likely, adjust them to reflect the changes I want to make.

Before I start painting with this second set of colors, I paint them over the first layer's colors on the right two-thirds of the swatch. At this point I either stick with the new colors for the second layer, or wipe them off the swatch and adjust again. This allows me to make very finite changes in brightness, hue, and saturation. The shifts in color may be small, but the effect can be enormous. At this point, my color mixing is done and I am free to focus solely on painting all the detail I can manage. In this example, the bottom right corner of the painting is the last section to complete in the second layer of paint, using basically the bottom half and right two-thirds of colors on the swatch to paint in the grass and leaves. Once the second layer has dried, I will glaze the painting with a translucent glaze to heighten the atmosphere, in this case a heavy grey obscuring the background, shifting to a clear glaze for the foreground. I will test it out first, using the last right one-third of the swatch to see the effect before committing to glazing the painting. Best of all, when the painting sells it is gone forever, but the next time I am working on a cloudy sky or foggy scene, I can pull out this swatch and any others of a similar bent for reference to get a quick start on the first layer of that painting. Hope this helped! 

Here Is A Progression...

...showing how I made the grass grow. 

When My Wife And I...

...were in Illinois last, we kept turning to each other and saying, "I feel like I'm in a Brett Scheifflee painting!" So with his awesome show going up this week at RLS, I thought I would start a little painting that looks like his. 

Slowly...

...very slowly, I am working through the trees that make up this horizon line.

One Step Closer...

...to being finished.

Although I Usually Paint...

...from my own photo references, sometimes I do not. This is one of those times, as a close friend of mine has a feed on Instagram (@whisperingpinestoo) of his sunset views. He then emails me the larger files, and I've fallen in love with a few. This may be the first of many of sunsets over Barnegat Bay in the state of my birth...

Sometimes...

...I paint the first layer so well I want to cut corners and leave it be. But in this case, the results were so far from what I had in my mind, it will be a pleasure to paint the second layer! 

The First Layer Is Complete...

...and from this distance, it is looking pretty good! But that is the just the appeasing orange and blues, so after a while of contemplating where I want it to go, I will sand it smooth and and start on the detail in the second layer. 

The Opposite Approach...

...of how I painted the little square is the method I am using on my current large painting. Instead of working out the structure by painting every individual blade of grass, I deliberately blurred my reference photo to isolate the clumps of grass and water. By limiting the amount of information I have to work with I limit my OCD, and by my painfully slow standards am cruising through this first layer, yet still am able to define the positive and negative spaces for the next layer of paint.

The Second Of...

...the four square commission paintings is an inlet off the Chesapeake Bay draped in fog. This progression photo shows the foreground being painted. Over two paintings sessions (about 8 hours each) I worked with little brushes, painting in the negative (dark) space. Then with a razor blade I'd scrape away where the bigger/lighter blades of grass are, then paint them in. I've been trying to get away from being so specific in the first layer of my paintings, but on a small painting like this, I can afford to spend two days getting the complicated structures right so I can make it more lifelike on the next layer.