Blog
3/26/2018 9:45:34 AM
Relative value can refer to which side of the family you want to spend holidays with but it is also an important concept in painting.
Value is defined as the lightness or darkness of a pigment regardless of its color. Painting relies on placing different masses of values next to each other. How these values connect is what creates the composition.
Good composition happens when the artist translates the scene before them into a simple pattern of value masses. Realistic and impressionistic painters create patterns by interpreting their world into light and shadow. The lighter values describing what is being hit by light, the darker values describing areas covered in shadow. The area where the light and shadow meet is where there is a stark difference in value.
A work in progress miniscape (6x8 pastel) The light of the building on the right contrasted against the dark roof and shadow side is the focal point. Nothing else in the painting will be as contrasted. 6x8 pastel
Our eyes are naturally drawn to this area of sharp transition which creates a focal point. Good design uses focal points carefully to guide the viewer's eye around the composition by contrasting only what is important. Problems occur if an artist paints objects and details without regard to the surrounding values. If there are too many spots of contrast scattered throughout the painting then viewers will be confused about where they should look.
Values can be expressed as degrees of light and dark. If you want to add a detail that appears dark in the light areas, you do not need a dark value. You only need to paint that detail darker than the value around it. The same goes for the shadow. If you want to paint a light detail in the shadow, you do not need a light value. You only need to go lighter then the surrounding shadow value. You paint the smaller values relative to the larger value mass.
In this oil miniscape ( 5x7) The base of the trees are darker than the tops of the trees. They lighten as they go up so the contrast dose not take away from the white house. Compare it to the photo on the bottom where I photoshopped the tops of the trees the same value as the bottom.
In a previous blog post I wrote about how value ranges and music scales are similar. I think of values as musical notes with the lightest being the high notes and the darks as low notes. In music, how the notes connect creates the melody; in painting how the values connect create the composition. Using that same comparison we can think of the relative value as how the notes connect. Rather than jumping from high to low randomly we can go a half note lighter or darker without visually breaking up the value mass.
This miniscape of a sunset over a marsh (6x8 pastel) shows the importance of simple value masses. Nothing in the sky or water is as dark as the mass of grasses. Clouds being hit with light are lighter than the surrounding sky. The water is the same value as the darkest value of the sky. Blades of grass in the foreground are suggested by painting slightly darker and lighter than the surrounding values.
Understanding the power of connecting values is core to creating good paintings. Learning to control the amount of value contrast based on surrounding values will simplify and strengthen your compositions.
3/12/2018 5:24:06 PM
I read a quote in John Carlson's classic book Carlson on Landscape Painting that resonated with my latest obsession: creating large landscapes onto itty bitty formats. The quote goes like this: “In landscape painting the thing that is of importance to artistic expression is the “landscape sense,” a sense that makes us feel the float of a cloud, feel the rhythmic reach of a tree, the hardness of a stone. If we do not feel these things about a landscape we miss one of its biggest qualities.”
This is quite an abstract concept that Carlson discusses yet it’s crucial to making a landscape appear real. Without consideration of the weight, form and atmosphere of all the elements in the landscape, it will appear flat and harsh.
So how do you learn to feel the float of a cloud? Rather than looking at the landscape as a collection of things such as trees, clouds and grass, you feel the landscape by thinking of it in terms of light and form.
Westview 5x7 pastel
First consider the light. What are the direction, intensity and color of the light? Is the sun low in the sky? Is it a bright sunny day or is it a cloudy day with diffused light? The light affects every aspect of the landscape. A quick glance out a window tells you if it is sunny, dreary or stormy. We recognize morning light and evening light having a different quality than afternoon light. Without light we cannot see and interpret the landscape that surrounds us.
Next understand the landscape in terms of forms. A tree is an upright cylinder rising from the horizontal plane of the ground. A lake is a flat plane that mirrors the curving sky above. A fluffy cloud can be a combination of spheres attached to a flat plane on the bottom. Where these forms sit in the landscape in relation to the light is what makes and gives a painting “landscape sense.”
Consider the following scenario. Let’s say at noon you look outside the window and the sky is completely overcast. A house on the street is casting a bright blue shadow on the lawn and the side of a tree being lit with the red light of a sunset. Wouldn’t this look odd? The sky, the house, and the tree are all being hit with different sources of light. An overcast sky bathes every form in a blue diffused light. The angle of the sun at noon would never cast long shadows or shine on the side of a tree. Learning to feel the landscape means learning to record the light and forms in relation to each other, which begins with becoming an active observer of nature.
Speckled Sun 5x7 pastel
These little paintings are nothing more than exercises of capturing a large landscape presence onto a small surface. They are fast, fun and allow my mind to wander and interpret moments of light on form that are dear to my memory.
These little landscapes are created using photo references and memory. Often I blend references using a cloud from one photo, trees and water from another, maybe a building from another photo to jog my memory back to a moment of beauty. The trick is to make everything feel as if it happened all at once. I you are curious about buying one I will be holding a "mini-scapes" web sale later in the year.
3/7/2018 7:52:36 PM
While clearing up space on my phone I found progress photos I had taken of my painting White House 1 and thought I would post them on this blog. Enjoy!
Here was the thumbnail sketch to simplify the values.
Underpainting created by thinner on top of pastel.
Laying in the adjoining color values. This process is like putting together a jig saw puzzle. I apply the pastel thinly to let the underpainting show through.
I began to "ish" the shadows by dragging the complement over them. This dulls the saturation and makes the shadows look luminous.
When all the puzzle pieces are placed I can see what the final painting will look like. At this point I am happy and just make refinements.
White House 1 6x8 pastel.
