In this first one, I worked at getting the darker values of the flowers, particularly that purple one which is tipped down. I had trouble with this today for some reason, I have done these asters lots of times, no trouble. Who understands these things. Today I made a tight bouquet in another vase and put the leftover flowers in this vase so they wouldn't die, and of course, this one was the more interesting. I am sort of all over the place now with brushes and color and everything, those PKR exercises have derailed me a bit. But I expect to coalesce eventually.
And here is a study for my non painting amigos who are following the blog and wonder what, what is she doing all this for, is she crazy? Value or tone (used interchangeably) is the darkness or lightness of a color. If you paint it correctly, the form looks real and the eye sees it as three dimensional when really it is a flat two dimensional surface. Painting realistically is visual trickery, so best to know all the tricks. An example of this: on a sunny summer day in Texas, the sky will have a lighter value at the horizon where sky and land meet and a darker value as you go up. Another: the pears above have a light source coming from the left, so the area of lightest value is the first area the light hits. The area most hidden from the light will have the darkest value. With one value, which I didn't think to do, the form is completely flat. Two values begin to round it out, three round it more and you can begin to show reflected light (light reflected back up onto the bottom of the pear from the table or another neighboring form), and four values - well, I am not sure what four values gets you, which is why I am doing these exercises. There are actually many more existing values in all forms than you can get down in a painting. Putting them all in is impossible and ends in chaos. You have to learn to consolidate and edit values for the end result to be strong - for a strong painting, that has clarity. ( I am reminded here of Mortimer Adler's essay on Beauty, in which he writes there are three essential requirements for beauty: clarity, integrity and harmony of proportion. Do not know myself if this is so, but an interesting idea.)
In this first one, I worked at getting the darker values of the flowers, particularly that purple one which is tipped down. I had trouble with this today for some reason, I have done these asters lots of times, no trouble. Who understands these things. Today I made a tight bouquet in another vase and put the leftover flowers in this vase so they wouldn't die, and of course, this one was the more interesting. I am sort of all over the place now with brushes and color and everything, those PKR exercises have derailed me a bit. But I expect to coalesce eventually.
And here is a study for my non painting amigos who are following the blog and wonder what, what is she doing all this for, is she crazy? Value or tone (used interchangeably) is the darkness or lightness of a color. If you paint it correctly, the form looks real and the eye sees it as three dimensional when really it is a flat two dimensional surface. Painting realistically is visual trickery, so best to know all the tricks. An example of this: on a sunny summer day in Texas, the sky will have a lighter value at the horizon where sky and land meet and a darker value as you go up. Another: the pears above have a light source coming from the left, so the area of lightest value is the first area the light hits. The area most hidden from the light will have the darkest value. With one value, which I didn't think to do, the form is completely flat. Two values begin to round it out, three round it more and you can begin to show reflected light (light reflected back up onto the bottom of the pear from the table or another neighboring form), and four values - well, I am not sure what four values gets you, which is why I am doing these exercises. There are actually many more existing values in all forms than you can get down in a painting. Putting them all in is impossible and ends in chaos. You have to learn to consolidate and edit values for the end result to be strong - for a strong painting, that has clarity. ( I am reminded here of Mortimer Adler's essay on Beauty, in which he writes there are three essential requirements for beauty: clarity, integrity and harmony of proportion. Do not know myself if this is so, but an interesting idea.)
Hi Jean, Thank you for your compliment on my Lincoln painting. Not to...what? I'm quite flattered, simply because I admire your work so much. You're one of those artists whose blog teaches––visually and verbally. And with humor, too! I appreciate it.
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