Many shades of Gray.

Working on this heron, I am using many, many grays.
 

Working on my Lesser Blue Heron, I am constantly reaching for gray pencils. I have a lot of them!

 

 

Working Definition of gray:

adjective, grayer, grayest. 

 

1. of a color between white and black; having a neutral hue.

2. dark, dismal, or gloomy: gray skies.

3. dull, dreary, or monotonous. 

4. having gray hair; gray-headed. 

5. pertaining to old age; mature.

9. any achromatic color; any color with zero chroma, intermediate between white and black. 

10. something of this color.

Cool Grays
 

 

In art, gray is anything but dull. It is essential to any painting. You cannot work without gray. It is what gives life and depth to any 2-d artwork, what makes it pop or look real.

 

Far from being neutral or dull, gray comes in a wide variety of hues and chroma.

 

The definition of Chroma:

1. the purity of a color, or its freedom from white or gray.

2. intensity of distinctive hue; saturation of a color

 

But gray has its own intensity and saturation of color. And it does come in colors! Any pure color can and does have its version of gray. Warm, cool, French etc. I have a beautiful green-gray and a very useful rose-gray. Purples lend themselves to fantastic grays. Ask any floral or landscape artist how they could work without creating the essential grays. Same with portraits.

 

One of the things that makes both graphite and silverpoint beautiful to me is the vibrancy of the gray tones.

 

I love gray.

 

I could not draw or paint without it. Each time I create a painting I am mixing a new, exciting shade of gray.

And right now nothing is more popular than gray. Look at the color charts in any paint department. Gray comes in more than 50 shades and each is beautiful.

 

Lots of grays, from French to warm to cool.