Back on Track with My Value Studies

Value studies #14, #15, #16. I thought I
was getting better, but then I realized they
really don't look like anything. Oh no. 

Took a little break there. Not a good one. Prescription drug-related side effects. But I've got the issues worked out (I hope) and I'm back to work on my year of value studies. (I'm also rereading "Coaching the Artist Within," by Eric Maisel, which is a GREAT book to use to tame the inner critic so that you/I can get back to making art.)

A few days ago I watched a great promo teaching video from the Tucson Art Academy Online on value. Afterwards, I created three value studies from vacation photos. Studies #14 and #15 are from the same photo, but they don't read as masses that make up an interesting scene. Study #16 reads as three distinct value masses, but you really don't know what it is (a canyon in Zion). I'll need to think about these some more.

Barn near Holdener Park, Livermore, CA

Meanwhile, I reread Patti Mollica's amazing book, "How to Paint Fast, Loose, & Bold," and created a list of "to do" items based on her examples in the book. It's a LONG list (it's a great book). At the top of my list was to use Procreate to make a 3- or 4-value landscape sketch, based on one of my own photos. Her direction was to "mass shapes, use artistic license, and to simplify and merge values." Even though I'm confident with many computer programs, Procreate isn't one of them. It took me two hours to do my four small sketches, and they still have some technical issues. But I did them. And now I can say I FINALLY see what needs to be done to create a value study that works for painting.

#17, upper left, most resembles the photo.
#18, upper right, most resembles Mollica's example.
#19, lower left, moves the house and tree.
#20, lower right, changes the sky to mid light gray.

I'm going to being using value study #20 to do a lot of Mollica's color exercises, in acrylic, and I'm kind of excited! I haven't been excited about painting in a long time. This is a good thing. I like #20 the best because of the way the land "lines" converge, in perspective, to the barn and tree, which of course is the focal area. I also like the light gray sky, for two reasons: it will allow for a little more color to the top half of the painting (color is most vivid in the mid values), and it will bring a little more attention to the barn instead of competing with it. I also like that the mid values are dominant in #20, while the white and black are used sparingly (maybe too equally; I'll have to take than into consideration when painting).

Writing this post has taken another three hours! Getting my thoughts organized, gathering and preparing the photos, explaining my process and intention —this all takes time. But this has been invaluable for me and that learning/growth is the reason I started this blog in the first place. I hope you find this blog/posting helpful, too.