How to start a painting using “value”
Posted in For beginners on April 25th, 2010 by Gloria Jean
It is important to simplify the object into three values: light, medium and dark.
Practice bears fruit when it is applied. Prior to doing the following exercise, the student should have done a value scale with at least 5 values (and preferably ten) from black to white. The beginner can use this exercise to learn to mix oils.
I recommend using burnt sienna and ultramarine blue to make a black instead of black from the tube. Gray in stages using white. Burnt sienna will speed the drying time and when you add the right amount, you can control the amount of blue in the mixture. Burnt sienna, being orange, is the compliment of ultramarine blue and reduces the color intensity of the primary blue.
Simplify what you see to only three values. Set up a simple still life. Concentrate on translating it as a drawing using only 3 values, a dark, a medium and a light tone. For this exercise, you may want to mix the three colors on the palette, using the palette knife. I don’t usually encourage this. You can also do this exercise using a soft lead pencil, ink washes or other media that will give three distinct values.