Blessed Easter Happy Spring

This week marked the 1st day of spring - and in class we celebrated with a painting to honor the change of seasons.
Usually, I like to paint from LIFE (still life setup) but this week we contrived the image from our heads and painted in a step-by-step manner focusing on: Perspective, Value, Color Temperature and Brushwork.
See below - the 7-step gray scale that we made in class; (read about it a few posts back) - we used it in this painting and I will refer back to it.



To start the painting we sketched a simple back-lit bowl with eggs inside, - onto a black panel.
If you paint from direct observation a lot this should not be a stretch to create a painting that works - however,  to be on the safe side - I did bring an actual bowl with eggs into class so that students could use it for reference.                                                                   
Using a #8 or #10 Flat brush and the gray scale as a guide, we mixed a dark, cool neutral in the value range of #6 and painted the front of the nest that would not be lit, and the inside of the nest behind the eggs.
Load the Flat brush with paint and make thin, twiggy, individual strokes with the narrow edges of the brush - NOT the flat of the brush. This may not sound hard but it does require disciplined brushwork and is a great way to PRACTICE using just the edges of the brush; 2 edges - 2 juicy strokes, then reload your brush. Pull a few strokes out beyond the edge for interest and to create more interesting negative spaces to paint around later.

Next, I went back to the gray scale and mixed light, warm neutrals in the range of #2-3 and painted more twiggy strokes in the upper left and around the rim of the nest to show that the light is coming from the back, upper left.

The background is 2 variations of a cool color - in the value range of #1-2.  Use the FLAT part of the  brush to paint negatively between the 'twigs'  for depth and the look of light peeking in and around the edges. I purposely made my eggs darker than the background and correct light logic gives them a realistic feel.
 This was fun to paint and would also work well in watercolor or acrylic. Remember - think twiggy, thin brushwork.
Happy Spring!

Class Notes: COLOR Choices In VALUE

In class we are looking at VALUE and the color choices that make it work.  This adventure took a more abstract approach to VALUE, applying color-in-value to simple shapes that did not come from a photo or image.
First we divided the canvas into quarters,  drew 3 circles in every quarter and gave each one a value number using the value scale - seen here.  Every quarter should have 3 circles:  a light one, a medium one, and a dark one, plus a fourth and lightest value for the background - for a total 4 different values.

Now to the fun stuff - PAINT.  On the sketch above, I have noted the intended values, based on my numbered value-scale (I expect to vary these a bit).
With the sketch as a guide, I will use the value-scale to match each color choice to the value number noted on the sketch.

Side note: You can see that I did not paint the circles onto a white canvas but applied a mid-range (value #4) color as a ground. In the end this may get covered but sometimes having a mid-range "ground" already ON the canvas helps us evaluate the colors placed on top.  Note: a "ground" is a prepared surface, in this case- a colored surface, to which paint is applied.

After generally covering the canvas, I went back and began to play with the shapes by varying the brushwork and worked to move the color around the canvas, while staying true to the values in each shape. This was so much fun that it was hard to stop -  I could imagine working up this idea to 6 foot format.  Oh yeah!
In the end however - the tonal photo tells the story;
for all the craziness, the shapes still hold to the value plan set forth in the original sketch.


Now- go out and color the world - but don't forget your VALUE sketch.

Class Notes: VALUE in Color

In Class we have been studying Value, making Grayscales - hoping some of it sinks in. . .
Making sense of the value scale is part of training our eyes to discern value changes, - the more we do it, the more sensitive and accurate our value choices will be.  - but WHY?
Because VALUE is how we show form and create the illusion of 3 dimensions, on a flat canvas.
Does your work have depth, or show the light effects that you desire? We avidly study COLOR, but VALUE is what gives COLOR it's power - with out it, color makes little sense.
So - this week we started with a color photo of a cup and saucer and created a few 3-value plans - to which we applied this criteria:
The value plan must show the light & shadow effect.
It must help me to communicate what I want to say about the photo?
The value plan must communicate the 3D structure of the image in the photo?
To keep it simple we started with Black as #7 and laid in the darkest areas, then mixed a mid range gray (matching it to #4 on the Grayscale) and applied it to all of the middle value areas. Finally we left the white of the canvas as #1 our lightest value.
Of the 3 above - each value plan is a little different.
We used the photo for reference, but have made different design choices as to where certain lights and darks will be placed.
So much for the easy part. . .

I chose value plan two as my favorite, each class painter also chose one and we began to lay color on top of the value areas, trying to use colors that fit into that specific value range by matching them to our Grayscale.  It is all about comparing,  squinting, and matching; and there were a lot of A-Ha moments.
In the case above - I have tried to work many colors into each of the three values, but the true test is when we look at a tonal interpretation to see if they all hang together as one value.  See below.
At first I did not trust my own eyes as I squinted to match colors to values.
Several people pulled out their "i-phones" for this part; most new phones have a photo app of some kind that works well. Beware however,  we found some major anomalies between  phones, and between phones and cameras.
Your trained EYE can still be the best judge of visual information - so grab that grayscale -
you are now free to start squinting at the world.