Class Notes: Better Value Sketches

A sketch is a sketch is a sketch . . . .
worthwhile or a waste of valuable time that I could be spending painting?
Well, it's like pointing the car in the right direction and just hoping you get where you want to go. Your sketch is the MAP: a way to master the view, instead of letting it master you.
Here are some simple tips for sronger value sketches:
1. Use a viewer to limit and "trap" the view so that you know exactly what will be included in the sketch; both positive, as well as the negative shapes. I use an empty cardboard slide holder. (remember slides?)

2. Simplify, simplify, simplify.
Limit detail by squinting so you see less and can combine areas of detail into larger areas of value that are similar.

3. Stick with 3 values.
Remember that step-by-step process a few posts back?
The lights which are the white of the paper, the darkest darks which are as dark as you can make them with the pencil and the middle tones in between. Simplifying the sketch to just 3 values will communicate your ideas more powerfully - and translate more easily to color.

4. Make value changes for a better composition.
Once the sketch is done, you have a map for yourself but it may become apparent that not every route is a good one. Think about rearranging value areas or connecting them to improve the composition or to better lead the eye through the painting.

SHOW Time

Thanks Alamosa and the San Luis Valley for showing your support in such a tangible way by spending the evening with us, - and buying art.

I try not to have expectations about show openings in general- certainly, out of town shows where I might not know anyone. A home-town show though,
is a very different thing and my hope is always for a REALLY great party - period.
Last night's opening exceeded all of our hopes as so many friends, from every sphere packed out the long gallery in the Medical Center ARTium.
Mid way, we paused to enjoy an amazing panorama as the sun set over the San Juan mountains. The sun went down, lights came up and people enjoyed food and conversation late into the evening.

The Medical Center ARTrium is on the second floor and part of the route taken by doctor, nurses and many patients on their way into surgery or back to recovery. Even as we set up for the opening a large extended family had gathered to wait for one member who was having heart surgery. This ART space is a part of that world and it is especially gratifying when we hear from those people - how much they enjoy the paintings - PRICELESS.
The SLV Regional Medical Center also owns and shows original artwork by myself, Susan McCullough and David Montgomery, and many other valley artists - as part of their permanent collection.
- another reason why I love Alamosa. Thanks so much friends.

3 Friends, 3 Painters Show comes to the ARTrium

The newest version of 3Friends-3Painters opens this Friday night in the ARTrium at San Luis Valley Regional Medical Center.
New work from myself, Susan McCullough and David Montgomery - most of it painted in the landscape. Join us from 4- 7pm for the party to celebrate in one of the valley's most beautiful art venues at the SLV Regional Medical Center.

Below, we are all together at Rock Creek- it only looks like the Amazon jungle. If I recall, that day we were painting beaver ponds.

Class Notes: The Value of a 2-VALUE Sketch

My favorite type of sketch is the 2 value sketch; here at the top.
I use a bold sharpie-marker to lay in the dark values of the sketch and leave the white of the paper for everything else. I skipped the mid-tones, so for every shape I must decide to push it to black or the other direction, to white. The 2 value sketch may take some practice but the design potential is huge. Suddenly, you will begin to see patterns and shapes form that may not have come out of a 3 or 4 value sketch.
Compare the top sketch to the more conventional 3 value sketch below it. Both explain the light and tell the story but present very different pictures.
SideBar: I use the 2 value sketch in my own work because of the graphic quality it brings to the paintings.
In both sketches, I am very conscious of connecting the darks so that the viewer's eye can move across the composition with out a break. The final result was this little painting I did as a class demo.

The practice of translating what you see into small value sketches will help develop your artist's eye for VALUE.
What ever kind of sketch you choose to do, it will set you up to know where you are headed in the painting;
You master the work instead of letting it master you.
And we all know what that feels like - when a scene has just kicked your butt. . .
Go back and attack it with a value sketch.

Next time: TIPS on creating better value sketches.

Class Notes: The Value of a VALUE Sketch

In our ongoing discussion about VALUE. . .
I can't over state the importance of a sketch as a way to see
and FIGURE OUT value.
Creating small sketches is a good way to begin to develop your eye for value, BUT a conventional sketch like the one here on the right does NOT tell us either where the light is coming from or how it affects the objects it touches?


In the second sketch, I started a little differently.
You can see where I drew a light outline of the objects first, then used the pencil to tone, or fill in the shapes with a medium value grey - over all - leaving the white of the paper for the lightest shapes. It is a pretty simple process and if you cover areas that you want white,
just use an eraser to lift them.
At this point the sketch is very
2 dimensional and flat looking.










In this last step of the sketch,
I used the pencil to lay in the darkest darks over the medium value and voila - I have a quick 3 value sketch that shows where the light is coming from and suddenly my objects have dimension.
Not too painful right?

Remember: Understanding VALUE means knowing how to explain the LIGHT. The bottom sketch communicates where the light is coming from and what it does when it hits the objects.
More about seeing Values in Sketches, and some tips - later.

Class Notes: The Value of VALUE cont.

The discussion about VALUE, in class, is an ongoing one? We hit it from every angle and it applies to almost everything we talk about because it is THAT important.
However, when students are juggling drawing, color mixing, etc., and I bring up VALUE people's eyes glaze over.
Ok - so it's important, yada, yada, yada. I won't go into a long discussion as to why- if you are at that point as a beginning painter, and you don't know the WHY-just go with me on this one. Drawing, color mixing, composition, all come in second to the importance of values in creating a successful painting.
So where do you start to see and understand it?
First- a disclaimer to my students: this is not a plot to try to sell you on the sketch idea BUT. . . .
The BEST way to begin is to start sketching. Sketch anything; do a quick sketch of your spoon on a napkin, sketch while on the phone, doodle in meetings. It goes with out saying that doing a sketch of what you want to paint is important, so in the next few posts I will show a couple of ways to develop your eye for value by using small sketches.
The photos here show a small still life posted earlier (see Dec 18 post on VALUE) and my original sketch for the same.
Not bad - it covers the basics but communicates almost nothing about the VALUEs (the light in the setup).
What is the light doing?
Where is it coming from?
How does it affect the objects it touches? Are the objects even 3 dimensional?
But it's a start.

Remember: Understanding VALUE in painting means knowing how to explain the LIGHT.
More about seeing Values in Sketches later.

THANKS and Happy New Year

A special THANKS to all of my students for a great year.
You keep me looking for new answers to old questions, and new ways to challenge what we think we know and see. You help me be more inspired, more energized, and I have a great time doing it. I hope you do too.
Here's to a great 2012.

...and Now For Something Completely Different

I painted this in class a few weeks ago from reference material; a task outside of my usual method, style and subject matter. Painting animals is very much like portrait work- and fun, once in a while.
Aside from simply getting a likeness my challenge is to work as broadly as possible while still giving the illusion of detail for things like tufts of fur and whiskers.
In some areas I chose to show brushwork that reveals what brush was used, in other areas the brushwork is sublimated to the subject matter.


... more in my own vein -
this Caboose was a special
commission, (finished
right before Christmas)
to be a companion piece
for the Locomotive
purchased by a collector
a couple of years back.
Both paintings are 11"x 14".
Click on any painting
to see it larger.

Merry Merry

It's Christmas Eve; we have a holiday puzzle half finished on the kitchen table, it is 5 below but we are hoping temps will rise a bit with the sunshine. Most of Colorado will see a white Christmas.
In the season of Advent with all the holiday craziness, I am always looking for hidden moments to reflect:
on the mystery of Christ's Nativity, on the World and my place in it, and My world and my place in it.
My hope at this season is that you will find yourself, in the quiet moments, surrounded by peace and filled with contentment and hope.
Merry, Merry Christmas.

Class Notes: The Value of VALUE

What does it mean when we talk about VALUE?
Simply stated - VALUEs are the lights and darks in a painting, photo, etc.
Understanding VALUE in painting means knowing how to explain the LIGHT. What is it doing? Where is it coming from? How does it affect the objects it touches? It is also through VALUE that we make objects look 3 dimensional.
In class we have been painting quick, small set ups, on white, in order to get a sense for values in a still life.
One approach is to recognize the darkest part of the still life.
Is it a dark colored object or a cast shadow? Conversely, what is the lightest part? That could be where an object is getting the full blast of the light or just a very light part of the set up.
Either way, once those are clearly identified you can work your "values" in between the darkest dark and the lightest light, always comparing one value against another.
In both cases above I have used this method without trying to create any specific value "plan" - except to try to CONNECT the darks. By connecting the dark values, I try to lead the viewer's eye through the painting.
More about VALUEs later.
The countdown to Christmas is on. Here's wishing you a week of festive anticipation and the energy to enjoy it.