Homework time..... value study.

OK - in the spirit of 'practice what you preach',  I did some homework before jumping right into my daily big project.  Yesterday I practiced values (we discussed value in class Sunday).

Value:  lightness and darkness.  Value adds energy and interest to your painting... and it helps prevent chaos. Making your paint darker or lighter is how you control value.

(Remember, this is NOT about color. )

Notice values here: light value the top of top box, the box becomes less bright on the left side.  A darker mid-value on the side of  bottom box.  The ends are the darkest value, esp. that right bottom corner.  There's a tiny highlight on the little front right top corner of the bottom box. Some of the table cloth is in shadow, some in light.  If these same-color boxes were painted in all one value (no change between light and dark) - the painting would not read with any interest or energy.  (not that cardboard boxes are THAT interesting :-) The eye would not travel around the painting.

Note:  You can get darker shades of the main color you are using by adding black to your original color or by adding ultramarine blue+Aliz. crim or cad red, ult. blue+orange to your original color, etc. 

Your turn! EZ Lesson:  

1. Set up a simple subject (e.g. piece of fruit or a box etc.),  shine it with an angled light so you have bright side, a dark shadow side, and some in-between tones.  

2. Paint using only black and white to paint your picture......mix all your tones..from your charcoal gray to your very light/white highlight.  

3. Look at the subject very careful.  Identify your darkest area and decide how dark is it.  Is it pitch black or some slightly lighter shade?  Where is the highlight?  Notice all the values next to one another.  Paint your darkest areas first with black or charcoal black, paint your highlight or brightest area with pure white.  Then mix a couple grays for the in-between shades.  Try a few!

I did use a bit of color here, but I wasn't thinking about color - just my shadows and brightness.

Some artists always make a blk/white/gray value study before starting a new color painting - whether abstract or realistic. Then they know and transfer the value results to their color piece.

Let me know how yours turns out. Good luck!