"Use Your Isolator"

Dear Husband gave me a wonderful Christmas present after Middle Child was born.  His gift of "painting lessons" got me started on my artistic journey.  I'm using quotes around painting lessons, because in this type of class everyone chooses their own subject and the instructor walks around giving pointers - not step-by-step instruction with everyone painting the same thing. This particular teacher was fond of saying 2 things:  "Use your isolator" and "Add yellow ochre". My next instructor basically said to throw away both your isolator and yellow ochre. Various workshops later and I've got a whole slew of tips from instructors, some of which are conflicting. Some I've incorporated into what I do and others I have not.  You just have to find what works for you.

What is an isolator, you ask?  It is a tool to help you see very light and very dark colors.  I haven't used an isolator in years,  but with the basically black Yashica and white Shaylee, I thought it might come in handy.  

Back in class, my isolator was just a note card with 2 holes punched in it.  Around one hole, the card was colored with black sharpie.  You use the white hole when looking at very light or "white" colors and the black hole when looking at very dark or "black" colors.  When surrounded by white or black, you can more easily see the true colors in your subject.

I made a fancy isolator the other day which also includes a gray and creamy color using scrapbook paper (pictured below).  Wow!  That is high tech!  Don't laugh - it works.  Look at when I compare the white to the light tones in Shaylee.  Now you can see that the color is a little gray with a hint of pale peach.  

So, if you're only seeing black and white, you might want to try an isolator!