Charmaine Olivia's Winter Spring Color Tutorial
Meet Charmaine Olivia, a ‘self-taught fine art painter’ from Southern California known for her highly detailed paintings. Her clients have included: Urban Outfitters, Lady Gaga, Hallmark, Volcom Stone, Vans Shoes, Element, Nylon Magazine, Burton, and many more.
Check out her portfolio on here website!
And if you haven’t yet, we highly recommend subscribing to her newsletter. Which, is where we found most of the information on Charmaine’s Winter Spring Color tutorial.
As part of her upcoming launch for her limited edition print entitled “Winter Spring,” Charmaine takes us behind the process of creating the piece.
And to start off the how-to here is Charmaine:
Charmaine: “ I wanted to share with you a part of the process behind creating this painting. Today I will be talking about one of my favorite things.. COLOR!
While creating my goddesses of Winter and Spring, I wanted COLOR to be the defining factor symbolizing the seasons. Blue being Winter, Green being Spring.
I began with painting the Winter goddess and her frosty world of snowflakes and clouds. Then I imagined the transition from Winter to Spring, with Spring being marked by rain and sunlight. In basic color theory, when you combine blue and yellow, you create green. If I imagine sunlight as being yellow,, combined with the blue of Winter, you would would create the green growth of new life. So the goddess of Spring is represented by luminous tones of greens. She is the embodiment of LIGHT of GROWTH. She is the pure light that melts the ice of winter and encourages the plants to grow. ”
Charmaine: “Before I begin painting, I arrange the colors on my palette. Since this painting has many nuanced shades of blues and greens, I thin out the paint with Turpenoid and blend the colors together to create smooth in-between colors.
Paint can be divided into two basic groups, transparent and opaque. To put it simply, transparent colors are see-through, and opaque colors are not.”
Charmaine: “I don’t use any one particular brand of oil paint, but instead I like to try out various kinds and observe their subtle differences. I always encourage experimentation to find colors and textures that speak to you. Some of my favorite brands are Winsor & Newton, Gamblin, and Old Holland. But even the basic, lowest grade oil paint can be great! It’s all about how you use it. :)
These are some colors I used for this painting:
Holbein - Luminous Lemon (Transparent)
Old Holland - Scheveningens Green (Transparent)
Old Holland - Scheveningens Blue (Transparent)
Gamblin - Cobalt Teal (Opaque)
Holbein - Ice Green (Opaque)
Winsor & Newton - Titaniuim White (Opaque)
There are an innumerable number of effects and textures you can create using all the different colors and mediums, which can feel overwhelming! But for new artists, I always recommend not getting too caught up with brands or rules, but to choose colors that you like, choose brushes that feel good in your hand, and just GO FOR IT. No matter what happens, you will learn. Even if your painting looks absolutely horrible to you, that doesn’t matter! Art is an expression, and even if it looks weird to you, creating is a brave act. Inevitably you will learn something about yourself, and next time you paint, you’ll apply when you have learned.”
Charmaine: “The artist’s best friend! I like to use a glass palette, but I also use palette pads, and have made use of all sorts of things for the sake of a "palette”. When in a pinch, I have used my thumbnail, the back of my hand, a desk, or the nearest surface available. A lot of the painting happens on the palette. It’s where you can mix the colors together, test out brush strokes, and find interesting color combinations.
I have always thought, “messy palette, messy mind”. When my palette is clean and my colors are organized, I find that painting just FLOWS so beautifully and much more effortlessly. If I have every color that I need ready to go, it requires less thought and less interruption to the creative process. Sometimes when you’re in a good flow, a simple lack of a particular shade of blue can pull you out of your world and completely derail and idea. And thus, the creative process is endlessly unpredictable. I try to influence these factors as much as I can. If I am able to keep my palette clean, organized, and available, there’s less things for me to think about other than the painting in front of me. But that doesn’t mean my palette doesn’t end up looking like a total disaster by the end of the day! But that’s why I love glass palettes, to keep them clean all you have to do is scrape off the dried paint with a razor blade.“
Charmaine: "Your paint brush is an extension of your mind. As you hold the brush, your hand moves with subtle inflections, sensing the pressure, the angle, and degree to which you apply the brush to the canvas. It does what you tell it to, though sometimes it has a mind of it’s own. It’s your magic wand!
Because there are so many brands, sizes, shapes, and prices, I like trying new kinds and finding new favorites. I usually have various shapes of tiny, small, medium, and large sizes each used for varying levels of detail.
Here are some I used for Winter Spring, from Left to Right:
1. Princeton round 0 - Good for small details like eyelashes, snowflakes and the shine in the eyes.
2. Princeton Oval Mop ¼" - I use this for petals and cloud details.
3. Princeton Oval Mop ½" - Used for slightly larger petals and details.
4. Makeup Brush - I absolutely love using makeup brushes! They come in all sorts of fluffy shapes and sizes, and usually with beautiful handles! They’re great for blending colors into soft and fluffy gradients. Ideal for clouds!
There is a large selection of amazing oil painting brushes out there that can cost a ridiculous amount of money, and they are really extraordinary to paint with, but I have found that some of the cheapest brushes can work great as well! What matters is how it feels in your hand. If you like the feeling, then use it. But sometimes, I don’t even use a brush!”
Charmaine: Hours can go by in a painting before I realize I haven’t picked up a paint brush in a while! I often find that unconventional tools can give you really interesting and organic effects.
1. The Q-Tip - My personal favorite! It works great for smudging and blending paint together. I also like to use it by dipping it in thinned out paint for the sketch layer of a painting instead of using pencil (which can muddy up my colors).
2. The Palette Knife - Excellent for mixing colors on your palette. Also great for globbing paint on to your canvas! Painting with a palette knife feels a bit like spreading frosting on to a cupcake.
3. The Color Shaper - I love using these to doodle in the paint. The soft rubber tip on the end works by scraping away the paint layer, or “erasing” the paint. In fine art terms, the technique is called “Sgraffito”, essentially scratching away the wet paint to reveal the color underneath. I use it for “erasing” color to make highlights even brighter.
4. The Paper Towel - My other personal favorite. I use a paper towel for just about anything. It’s also good for “erasing” and removing the paint for hilights. I also like to dip it in paint and use it as a “brush”.
It’s not good to get oil paint on your skin, so I try my best to wear gloves. But sometimes, nothing beats the look and feel of using your finger! It is especially handy for blending and smudging.
I hope these little tidbits helped!“
Thank you Charmaine for walking us through your painting process. We are looking forward to seeing more of your work. And if you haven’t checked out her website yet or subscribed to her newsletter, we highly suggest doing so!
And if you do not know how-to paint, but would really like to. We highly suggest giving it a try and looking for more tutorials from Charmaine.
Charmaine and the Savage Underground Hustlers all believe, we’re all artists.
Charmaine herself 'believes that every being is an artist in their own way, and allowing that creative spark to express itself is vital for the future world we want to create.’ And the Hustlers support everyone giving whatever medium of art self expression a shot.
And slowly and truly, day-by-day, get better at your craft. As we like to say at Savage Underground,
"TO CREATE YOU MUST TRUST THE PROCESS”
Till the next post, keep grinding!
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