Robert Lewis > Quotes

“Now, one more very important thing is the color. To get the color right you need to check two things: 1. Use a color checker to determine the color 2. Check the value of that color against the value for that color. If the color and the value match then you have accurately matched the color in the scene.”
― Robert Lewis, How to Paint Plein Air: Beginning Plein Air Painting

“Fathers and Sons, Dr. Lewis Yablonsky”
― Robert Lewis, Raising a Modern-Day Knight: A Father's Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood

“Impression, Sunrise”, which gave rise to the term “impressionism”. He described his palette this way: “As for the colors I use, what's so interesting about that? I don't think one could paint better or more brightly with another palette. The most important thing is to know how to use the colors. Their choice is a matter of habit. In short, I use white lead, cadmium yellow, vermilion, madder, cobalt blue, chrome green. That's all." (Author’s Note: Cadmium yellow deep was used to mix the palette above.)”
― Robert Lewis, How to Paint Plein Air: Beginning Plein Air Painting

“Zorn’s palette but in his self-portrait his palette holds the colors white, ochre, red, and black. A mix of ochre and black produces a green. The black can be mixed with white for a kind of blue. In both cases, the intensity of the green and blue appears more saturated by adjacent colors which trick the eye into perceiving more color than is actually there. This palette teaches great resourcefulness.”
― Robert Lewis, How to Paint Plein Air: Beginning Plein Air Painting

“In other words, you have a palette with only black, white, and grays. You will thinly paint the grisaille with these, or mixtures of these. Use your value scale to determine the value of each color in the composition and match it with the gray of the same value on your palette. Paint it in. Paint the entire composition in grays, matching values of colors with grays. Be meticulous in your matching. Be accurate. Take your time to get this right. Getting this right ensures that the next step will be a success. If you get the values right, just about everything else can go wrong and it will still be a good painting. You will know when you have finished the grisaille when it resembles a black and white photo.”
― Robert Lewis, How to Paint Plein Air: Beginning Plein Air Painting

“Go back into the basic colors you just applied and add some thicker strokes. You don't need to completely repaint it, just add some thicker paint and brushstrokes throughout.”
― Robert Lewis, How to Paint Plein Air: Beginning Plein Air Painting

“Winston Churchill pointed out: “Success consists of going from failure to failure without loss of enthusiasm.”
― Robert Lewis, How to Paint Plein Air: Beginning Plein Air Painting

“Finishing the Painting At this point in your painting, you have the opportunity to work on your brushwork. The painting is essentially finished and, if you just don't have any more energy or time left, you could call it "done". But if you have the time and energy, make your painting dazzle and sparkle with brushwork that satisfies the soul. Your painting ought to look great from across the room, of course, but when the viewer gets up close, you want to take their breath away and that, dear artistic friend, is success. Here’s your final checklist: add variations of colors sharpen the focus, soften the secondary add interesting brushwork, surface textures add final details and sparkles walk away, come back with fresh eyes sign it”
― Robert Lewis, How to Paint Plein Air: Beginning Plein Air Painting

“The grisaille (gree-zah-yuh) is like painting a black and white picture of the scene. In fact, if you have your smart phone available, take a photo and, in the photo app, you can quickly remove the color to get a black and white version of the scene. This is not a bad practice because it gives you a quick look at the values. Still you need to determine the values for yourself. You need to know how to determine values by using some kind of value scale. Start by squeezing a pile of white paint at the top of your palette and a pile of black paint (mixture of burnt umber and blue, or premixed black) at the bottom. Between the white and the black, mix up at least three values of gray, ranging in value from white to black.”
― Robert Lewis, How to Paint Plein Air: Beginning Plein Air Painting

“(The Book of Virtues and The Children’s Book of Virtues)”
― Robert Lewis, Raising a Modern-Day Knight: A Father's Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood

“you will create a rough but accurate brunaille (broo-nay-uh) which is simply a sketch done in browns (assuming you've chosen a brown tone). This is a rough sketch but it must be an accurate one. This will be drawn in a sketchy manner but it needs to be true to the scene before you. Lines, angles, and relative spaces should reflect the scene accurately. So take your time to use a view finder, hold your brush to measure angles, and/or any other tricks you have to accurately capture the scene before you and to transfer it to the canvas.”
― Robert Lewis, How to Paint Plein Air: Beginning Plein Air Painting

“Monet put it, “The most important thing is to know how to use the colors.” Get to know your colors by learning how to mix any color you want from the palette you choose.”
― Robert Lewis, How to Paint Plein Air: Beginning Plein Air Painting

“I see many men walking around in mid-life with a sense of yearning for things they can’t get from their wives and can’t get from their jobs, and can’t pull from inside themselves. Having listened to thousands of stories in workshops around the world, I’m convinced that what men are missing is a sense of their own identity; a very primitive and very deep sense of validation that passes from father to son.9”
― Robert Lewis, Raising a Modern-Day Knight: A Father's Role in Guiding His Son to Authentic Manhood

“or even scrubbed into the grisaille below. Now comes the fat part of "fat over lean".”
― Robert Lewis, How to Paint Plein Air: Beginning Plein Air Painting

“Each palette teaches color mixing. Some have advantages, some limitations. Get to know what those are. The Zorn palette, in particular, teaches resourcefulness. The impressionist palette can teach the vibrancy of lighting effects. The “modern” palette can teach the importance of restraint. You will find the colors that “speak” to you, that work for you, that you have an affinity for.”
― Robert Lewis, How to Paint Plein Air: Beginning Plein Air Painting

“Up to this point everything has been lean. All of your paint has been laid on the canvas thinly”
― Robert Lewis, How to Paint Plein Air: Beginning Plein Air Painting