Artist Theodore Lukits (1897-1992) lived in Los Angeles, where he ran a school of painting.
| Theodore Lukits (on ladder) and Dean Cornwell (below right) |
Students were limited to working with white, cadmium yellow pale, cadmium red, a cool red (Ed. note quinacridone red), Phthalo (Monastral) green, and ultramarine blue.
From those colors students would make a color wheel, tinting the colors in the center of the circle with white and darkening them with adjacent colors, but not with black.
As Starrett points out, Lukits placed a lot of importance on understanding drawing and value before embarking on color.
From those colors students would make a color wheel, tinting the colors in the center of the circle with white and darkening them with adjacent colors, but not with black.
| Drawing by Theodore Lukits |
| Painting by Theodore Lukits |
Youtube Link. Once they understood value, they painted from still life setups, which were often lit with brightly colored lights.
| Painting by Theodore Lukits |
Lukits discouraged the use of earth colors, which he called "tobacco juice" colors. He argued that you didn't need them because you could mix any color from the few basic hues. (Youtube Link)
| Painting by T. Lukits |
Lukits students include not only David Starrett, but also Peter S. Adams, Tim Solliday, and Frank Ordaz.
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