Black

 

Amirasolo and Other Essays

Part 3. In my Book

Essay 35. BLACK

The story Mon Villanueva told us might be apocryphal. The source of that story was a former student of the University of the East School of Music and Fine Arts (UESMFA). This student related that on the first day of their painting class, their instructor inspected their oil paint sets, took the tubes of black paint out of the boxes, and threw them out the window.

The reason, the instructor declared, was because in his class, the use of black in their paintings is forbidden. That was a ridiculous and tyrannical gesture---an overacted dramatics by that instructor who could have just ordered his students to leave their tubes of black paint at home.

Some art teachers from way way back have forbidden the use of black in painting. I've heard first hand one or two instructors telling us to use, in lieu of real black, a mixture of all  the primary colors---lots of blue and red and a little yellow. That was a dictum probably propagated by impressionist painters who preferred a palette of pastel hues above all others. They won't use black for shadows, but would instead use blue, purple, and even pink. With good results, I admit.

But not all painters are impressionists. Many painters like myself are not averse to using black in our artworks. Even in art school, I've always used black in my plates in direct disregard of the advice given us by an instructor.

More so when I turned professional. All of my illustrations and paintings have ample traces of black in them. I mixed black with red to get a maroon, and with blue and white to get a blue-gray color. I used black too in painting shadows, hair, eyes, and anything that looks truly black.

It seems impractical to spend time and effort to mix three colors to get a color that is almost black when I have a tube of black paint waiting to be squeezed on the palette and brushed on the paper or canvas. Of course, if I need black and I don't have a tube of black paint on hand, that's the time I'll employ my knowledge of color mixing and combine all primary colors to get my black.

One seemingly valid reason why art teachers tell students to refrain from using black in painting is because the finished work would appear to have holes in them if black was used. Not always. Of course, the spots of pure black paint will look like holes if their edges are painted sharp, and not blurred to blend with the adjacent colors.

The trick really is to use black paint sparingly, to not mixed it with many of the colors you are using. If you have a tube of black paint, use it. Do not mixed the blues, reds, and yellows to get your black. Because a time may come when you'll need those primary colors individually but you don't have any left anymore because you have used them all, mixed up together, as black paint. You'll be forced then to rush to the art supply store to buy again the colors you have carelessly used.

(The photo collage above shows a few of my artworks on which I made ample use of black paint.)