HENRY HENSCHE COLOUR STUDY
It has been my one goal for this blog to become a place where I can post information that will actually help us painters. So it is with great pleasure that I am able to pass along this writing by a former student of Henry Hensche, and someone who has devoted his entire adult life to the study of color. This is written as a more thorough follow up to some postings on rationalpainting.org, and is meant as a tool to help the serious painter get started with this method. Being 193 pages, with color photos, it is truly a great resource for anyone wishing to explore this way of color study, and apply it to their own work. If you have serious questions please feel free to email me at info@blueridgeartist.com, and I will do my best to get the answer.
Click link below for the full .pdf version, which is much easier to read.
THE HENSCHE APPROACH TO COLOUR STUDY IN PAINTING
A brief introduction to the beginning stages of colour study with sequential examples and commentary
Preface:
This article is an expanded version of the piece previously written for rationalpainting.org and is about the beginning stages of Henry Hensche’s method or approach to colour study as well as some of his other ideas about colour composition in painting. There is also the attempt to disentangle Hensche from a great number of misconceptions.
One is always reluctant to write or post anything at all about what Hensche taught for several reasons, one is that I am not a teacher or a writer, I don’t know enough to be either one. Secondly there is always someone usually quite justifiably who believes themselves to be of superior knowledge and judgment always ready to condemn or be negative or destructive of anything positive that is offered freely to others, (but the reader will have to judge that for themselves). And thirdly and most importantly is that one does not want to assist any charlatans who are teaching for profit to gain a more credible spiel through which to further dupe their paying clients. The words themselves mean nothing, so the student must look to the teachers’ works to see if they actually reflect the meanings and content of those words. If not then the sincere student is the one who loses out and is left to pay the costs and it is for those sincerely interested of all ages that this effort is made here.
Although I have been allowed this space to repost this modified version of the RP.org article, so that everyone has easier access to the materials, this website is not responsible or accountable for its tone or content. The entirety of this article has been compiled and edited by g.t. thurmond for all those interested in colour study but who were not fortunate enough to have studied with Henry Hensche directly. One wishing to see more images of Hensche’s works can access www.thehenschefoundation.org/
Those of you who are actually interested in colour study will have to bear with me, it is not a simple subject and I have made these pages as short as possible without losing their meaning. Being a simple minded person you all must please forgive my poor use of the Queen’s English, but I have tried to be plain spoken and clear so not to confuse anyone. The language is impersonal where practical, but it is difficult to present facts in a void, especially if one is passionate about one’s subject.
Many will find this article very useful while a few others may find the style of presentation or verbal delivery offensive but it has been written for adults, not children or adolescents. My only concern is to disseminate these ideas in a way that anyone who wishes to attempt to study for themselves can have free access and be guided by relevant and accurate information on colour study materials and procedures. This article is about training not painting so the jpg examples in the study sections were chosen for their simplicity and direct ability to illustrate the ideas explained in the text and is written as one would speak; because it is fully intended to be an adequate substitute for live instruction. One should not have to pay for something that the intelligent and self motivated student can read for themselves, do for themselves and if one studies as described can figure out for themselves.
The copy type face is mainly 14 point Ariel and Arial Black in 18-20 point type for headers, san serif to eliminate annoying screen blur and large enough to compensate for the condensation or compression of smaller high res screens and still be easily readable. This article was designed to be displayed as a 10 ½ inch wide word.doc page, with type line and images at a 7 ½ inch width. As a printed document this would be a 6 inch line on an 8 ½ inch wide paper but at 100% screen display it should display as the larger format. If one can download original 50MB file as word document or PDF then one can enlarge pages and view jpgs to see colour details or read smaller written and typed materials such as in Dia. e, d, and f.
This document will NOT print accurately as displayed. The settings are RGB, not CMYK and the jpg saturations and contrasts do not automatically convert to printable settings where the prints will be correct or equivalent to monitor display.
All jpg examples of studies as well of Hensche’s paintings and class demonstrations have been corrected and balanced as closely as possible but one’s monitor type and/or monitor settings as well as ones search engine or server can often make the CIE-LAB (or equivalent) colours look exaggerated. And since this article is about colour and developing one’s colour perception it is important that the examples give as correct an impression as possible to the viewers eye as the original work would have, or at least as closely as we can make our monitors display them.
Many keep their monitors calibrated with those programs for doing such. Otherwise if you have older equipment your monitor should be set at fairly high contrast or even 100% on CRT monitors and the brightness at 60% or higher for colour clarity as this removes the grey dingy tinge which low contrast settings put over any colouration. The jpgs in this article were corrected to be displayed at a screen setting of 6500K (sRGB ). If your monitor is set at 9300K they will display too bluish cool, if set at the 5000K setting they will display too warm and dull, to reset to 6500K should only take a few clicks on the front of your monitor. If your monitor displays the colour patches below fairly well then the rest of the jpgs should be reasonably accurate also.
All jpgs have been sized for document limitations but are at their most accurate when article is viewed at 150%. A much smaller display will concentrate the colours and they will appear more saturated, a much larger display will cause the colours to appear paler as the size increases, so please keep that in mind and adjust accordingly. But once again, on most monitors especially CRT types if the screen is set at 6500K, 100% contrast and 60% or slightly higher brightness then display should be good.
Colour correction patches:
In the colour patches the top group are 100% saturated colours, middle greys are desaturation of top group, and bottom group is greyscale mode of the saturated colours at top (as one can see desaturation and actual greyscale have little relation to one another), along with pure black and pure white on left margin. It should also be remembered that RGB colour cannot produce any true yellow or orange so is a compromise at best, but these are the limitations we must work under.
if you are interested in best display or colour bias of your monitor and have a Photoshop program or Elements or other type one can copy, save and display this colour patches jpg into that program and do the following - click on your colour sampling tool (such as eye dropper etc) from the tool bar or menu, click sample the lower left bottom section of white, when the display box pops up the sampling circle should be completely buried in the desaturated white corner of the colour vectoring box, if not and if it is out within the box’s displayed colour then that tint will show the colour bias of your screen. Sample the black band at left, the indicator circle should be buried in the desaturated black corner of the box. If you sample the center section of desaturated greys the indicator should be exactly halfway between the previous white and black locations. And in sampling the grey scale of bottom group the indicator should stay in the desaturated strip also with no colour bias tinge.
One can remove any excess screen colour bias by slightly reconfiguring the RGB settings for the monitor or running a program designed for this purpose. I would add that it is not necessary to make any corrections at all, this information is simply for those who may be dissatisfied with how these jpgs display or those who are very particular about monitor colour.
For those interested in the other colour patches information the colours in top group are @ 100% saturation and displayed are both RGB and CMY, when sampled in Photoshop they will display on the chromatic bar scale and the percentage breakdown will be displayed in numbers, the results should be as listed here. 5 is @ 255R/100% all RED saturation. 3 is @ 255G/100% all GREEN saturation. 6 is @ 255B/100% all BLUE saturation. 2 is @ 255G and 255B and is 100% CYAN saturation. 4 is 255R and 255 B and is 100% MAGENTA saturation. 1 is @ 255R and 255G and is 100% YELLOW saturation.
One with further interest in the RGB colour model can start here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGB_color_model
A brief introduction to the beginning stages of colour study with sequential examples and commentary
Preface:
This article is an expanded version of the piece previously written for rationalpainting.org and is about the beginning stages of Henry Hensche’s method or approach to colour study as well as some of his other ideas about colour composition in painting. There is also the attempt to disentangle Hensche from a great number of misconceptions.
One is always reluctant to write or post anything at all about what Hensche taught for several reasons, one is that I am not a teacher or a writer, I don’t know enough to be either one. Secondly there is always someone usually quite justifiably who believes themselves to be of superior knowledge and judgment always ready to condemn or be negative or destructive of anything positive that is offered freely to others, (but the reader will have to judge that for themselves). And thirdly and most importantly is that one does not want to assist any charlatans who are teaching for profit to gain a more credible spiel through which to further dupe their paying clients. The words themselves mean nothing, so the student must look to the teachers’ works to see if they actually reflect the meanings and content of those words. If not then the sincere student is the one who loses out and is left to pay the costs and it is for those sincerely interested of all ages that this effort is made here.
Although I have been allowed this space to repost this modified version of the RP.org article, so that everyone has easier access to the materials, this website is not responsible or accountable for its tone or content. The entirety of this article has been compiled and edited by g.t. thurmond for all those interested in colour study but who were not fortunate enough to have studied with Henry Hensche directly. One wishing to see more images of Hensche’s works can access www.thehenschefoundation.org/
Those of you who are actually interested in colour study will have to bear with me, it is not a simple subject and I have made these pages as short as possible without losing their meaning. Being a simple minded person you all must please forgive my poor use of the Queen’s English, but I have tried to be plain spoken and clear so not to confuse anyone. The language is impersonal where practical, but it is difficult to present facts in a void, especially if one is passionate about one’s subject.
Many will find this article very useful while a few others may find the style of presentation or verbal delivery offensive but it has been written for adults, not children or adolescents. My only concern is to disseminate these ideas in a way that anyone who wishes to attempt to study for themselves can have free access and be guided by relevant and accurate information on colour study materials and procedures. This article is about training not painting so the jpg examples in the study sections were chosen for their simplicity and direct ability to illustrate the ideas explained in the text and is written as one would speak; because it is fully intended to be an adequate substitute for live instruction. One should not have to pay for something that the intelligent and self motivated student can read for themselves, do for themselves and if one studies as described can figure out for themselves.
The copy type face is mainly 14 point Ariel and Arial Black in 18-20 point type for headers, san serif to eliminate annoying screen blur and large enough to compensate for the condensation or compression of smaller high res screens and still be easily readable. This article was designed to be displayed as a 10 ½ inch wide word.doc page, with type line and images at a 7 ½ inch width. As a printed document this would be a 6 inch line on an 8 ½ inch wide paper but at 100% screen display it should display as the larger format. If one can download original 50MB file as word document or PDF then one can enlarge pages and view jpgs to see colour details or read smaller written and typed materials such as in Dia. e, d, and f.
This document will NOT print accurately as displayed. The settings are RGB, not CMYK and the jpg saturations and contrasts do not automatically convert to printable settings where the prints will be correct or equivalent to monitor display.
All jpg examples of studies as well of Hensche’s paintings and class demonstrations have been corrected and balanced as closely as possible but one’s monitor type and/or monitor settings as well as ones search engine or server can often make the CIE-LAB (or equivalent) colours look exaggerated. And since this article is about colour and developing one’s colour perception it is important that the examples give as correct an impression as possible to the viewers eye as the original work would have, or at least as closely as we can make our monitors display them.
Many keep their monitors calibrated with those programs for doing such. Otherwise if you have older equipment your monitor should be set at fairly high contrast or even 100% on CRT monitors and the brightness at 60% or higher for colour clarity as this removes the grey dingy tinge which low contrast settings put over any colouration. The jpgs in this article were corrected to be displayed at a screen setting of 6500K (sRGB ). If your monitor is set at 9300K they will display too bluish cool, if set at the 5000K setting they will display too warm and dull, to reset to 6500K should only take a few clicks on the front of your monitor. If your monitor displays the colour patches below fairly well then the rest of the jpgs should be reasonably accurate also.
All jpgs have been sized for document limitations but are at their most accurate when article is viewed at 150%. A much smaller display will concentrate the colours and they will appear more saturated, a much larger display will cause the colours to appear paler as the size increases, so please keep that in mind and adjust accordingly. But once again, on most monitors especially CRT types if the screen is set at 6500K, 100% contrast and 60% or slightly higher brightness then display should be good.
Colour correction patches:
In the colour patches the top group are 100% saturated colours, middle greys are desaturation of top group, and bottom group is greyscale mode of the saturated colours at top (as one can see desaturation and actual greyscale have little relation to one another), along with pure black and pure white on left margin. It should also be remembered that RGB colour cannot produce any true yellow or orange so is a compromise at best, but these are the limitations we must work under.
if you are interested in best display or colour bias of your monitor and have a Photoshop program or Elements or other type one can copy, save and display this colour patches jpg into that program and do the following - click on your colour sampling tool (such as eye dropper etc) from the tool bar or menu, click sample the lower left bottom section of white, when the display box pops up the sampling circle should be completely buried in the desaturated white corner of the colour vectoring box, if not and if it is out within the box’s displayed colour then that tint will show the colour bias of your screen. Sample the black band at left, the indicator circle should be buried in the desaturated black corner of the box. If you sample the center section of desaturated greys the indicator should be exactly halfway between the previous white and black locations. And in sampling the grey scale of bottom group the indicator should stay in the desaturated strip also with no colour bias tinge.
One can remove any excess screen colour bias by slightly reconfiguring the RGB settings for the monitor or running a program designed for this purpose. I would add that it is not necessary to make any corrections at all, this information is simply for those who may be dissatisfied with how these jpgs display or those who are very particular about monitor colour.
For those interested in the other colour patches information the colours in top group are @ 100% saturation and displayed are both RGB and CMY, when sampled in Photoshop they will display on the chromatic bar scale and the percentage breakdown will be displayed in numbers, the results should be as listed here. 5 is @ 255R/100% all RED saturation. 3 is @ 255G/100% all GREEN saturation. 6 is @ 255B/100% all BLUE saturation. 2 is @ 255G and 255B and is 100% CYAN saturation. 4 is 255R and 255 B and is 100% MAGENTA saturation. 1 is @ 255R and 255G and is 100% YELLOW saturation.
One with further interest in the RGB colour model can start here
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RGB_color_model
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