Monday, August 18, 2008

Value Studies in Oil

Values Sketch

Underpainting for Still Life

This post is about what I learned in doing some value studies.

Above you see my two efforts from this evening.

First is just a "sketch" of a painting. I don't think I'm ready to tackle the complexity of painting figures just yet, but this image is often on my mind. It's from my vacation this year, it recalls a special afternoon we spent taking our boys to the beach for the first time in their lives. I got to sit and enjoy watching them in the water, sketchbook in hand.

The second is intended to be an underpainting. I want to try using thin paint and layering, just to see how it goes. I found this one a real struggle. I had to keep fighting to get the values I wanted and then adjusting the shapes to correct them. As it is, I see problems. But I am again seeing the complexity values, shapes, and edges.

On both of these I had challenges with getting the right amount of paint where I wanted it, figuring out how and when to thin, how to lighten a value...It did feel very much like sculpting, pushing and pulling paint around, trying to get the edges I wanted in the right value contrast. Regardless of the outcomes, I thoroughly enjoyed this!

2 comments:

Teresa said...

Rose, you're so thorough! I think you're doing great... this time you're taking to lay a good foundation in oils will pay off. Good for you!

Valerie Jones said...

I like these value studies! Good work!