Today's topic: Maintaining clear values (share your strategies)
Yves: (Yves asked to talk to us at the beginning of the meeting). I owned an Art Gallery in Portland. One day (twenty five years ago) a young man came to see me and asked if I might show his work. My Gallery only dealt with artists no longer living (fact)! But, this man impressed me, so I decided to give him a show. That man was Thomas Jefferson Kitts...and this is the poster we did for the exhibit (in 1993)! (Applause)! (And here is the other poster we did for another show we had featuring Thomas)! (Applause)! Thomas, if you would like these posters, I'll make them a gift to you! (Applause)! (Editors note: So, when Yves saw Thomas this morning, he was able to produce these mid 90's posters just like that! What an exquisite filing system he must have! We're all soundly impressed. p.s. another Big Thanks to Yves for hosting our meetings in the French Quarter....we very much appreciate it!)
Celeste: Recently Za has given us lessons involving storyboard art. Film (and/or animation) teaches us things about picture making in general. We are all trying to tell a story with our paintings and in that way storyboards have a parallel to landscape. I'm showing some gouache paintings from these lessons. Also, I'm showing the 4 value studies I did in Terry Muira's "Cityscape" workshop. It seems easier to do these indoors than out---but I'm doing my best to remember the lessons while outside.
Loretta: I'm always working on values! I think value is easier to "get" than temperature.
Jeanie: Well, I don't worry about it, because I don't go outside! (Laughter)! I used to have a printed 10 value chart that I kept up to refer to. Frankly, right now...I just "wing it"! (Laughter)!
Chris: I want to show you a black and white value study I did ....before I tried plein air painting. I'm also showing a color painting I did where I tried to take it from way dark to way light (to describe the scene). These are in acrylic and I'm not painting in acrylic now. Value studies can be done with warmer colors (instead of black). Burnt Sienna (with other colors) may provide a pleasing result. I am also showing the painting I started plein air in Gresham...I completed it in my Studio.
Eugenia: I have a real problem with value. I'll take a photo and the make it "tonal". I'll match what I painted against the photo...to see how well I did, or how far off I am. I am showing a recent painting.
Linda: I have trouble with value...I'll squint! I am showing a painting from my 100 portrait challenge...this one is an ancient Peruvian Princess...and it looks just like her (Laughter)!
Joanne T: In Za's classes we focus on 3 values...but when I paint in color, I notice there is more than just a mid value...there can also be a darker mid value. The values can be like 2 through 6 --that can be a good range. All instructors seem to have different ways of explaining value and how to learn it. I am showing a painting I did from a photo. You have to be so careful when painting from photos, because the shadows look so much darker in a photo than in life. I was satisfied with how I managed to make this curtain look sheer. I won People's Choice at the 200 show at OSA (Applause)!
Dotty: I try to establish my values in the underpainting. To me, values and shapes together go hand in hand. I am showing a recent pastel. The tree was backlit...so my challenge was to get the tree dark enough to provide the right value to put the light right next to it.
Renita: I just took a workshop with Brenda Boylan. She had us choose a certain amount of pastels and then she gave us a reference and we had to use the pastels we chose and no others. The colors were random, but we had to match values. In the end, we could see that the color didn't matter if the value was correct! I am showing pastels from the class.
Paula: Values are a problem! I hear it every time...the instructors say it every time! I took a workshop with Za and she showed how she mixes on her palette...dark, medium and light and she keeps those values next to one another both to create them and to judge them against one another. I am showing a recent plein air painting.
Nancy: I painted a painting expressly for the Elizabeth Jones Seventh Generation project. I am showing my pre-planning. I painted at South Cannon Beach and my husband Ken painted at Indian Beach. The artists had one constraint, that they had to use the same horizon line (so that the paintings look "continued" on the wall). I am also showing paintings I did at McKinley Park and in California.
Kimberly: I use my camera a lot! (I convert to black and white). I also have used a red filter and of course, I squint!
Tom D: I have never done a value study...although, I am sure I subconsciously or consciously deal with values. Last weekend was the Clark County studio tour and I painted this self portrait while I waited between visitors!
Tim: Values...they are complicated! We all struggle with it. Values....make or break the painting! I am showing paintings I did recently. This was at the graveyard and this is "Company Lake".
Jim: My goal has been to get back to painting every day. Values for me have been a definite shortfall...but I am working on it. I was so inspired by Tedd Chilless' palette knife painting last meeting, I decided to paint with palette knife myself...here are the results!
Dave: I'm glad for this subject! I am showing a "shaper" tool. This is what Craig Srebnk uses to remove a passage (to repaint it in the corrected value). Now, this (a q-tip) is what Michael Orwick uses (for the same reason)...finally if things go wrong this is what I use (a golf tee)! (Laughter)! I am showing a painting that I did that is printed on aluminum.
Ken: I don't have anything to add...except I will say that it is important to me that the values be strong! I use contrast in every painting. I am showing an example!
Geri: I establish dark, medium and light and THEN I go for it...I cut loose (Laughter)! (I add things only after getting the initial value structure down). This isn't finished...it is what I am working on now.
Eunice: I pass...I just don't want to talk about it! (Laughter)!!
Peggie: At first I thought...values? like what? "my" values??? (Laughter)! I make sure that I pay attention. I "stay" in whatever range is right for the desired result. I am showing recent paintings and I am handing off "Winston" (the traveling pochade box) to Dotty! (Applause)! (Editors note...Dotty and others remember to take a picture of Winston with your work see Facebook).
Wendy: Value...two years ago I knew nothing about it. Then, however, I took classes with Susan Kuznitsky. It just doesn't come naturally..I'd think what value is that color! ? What?? Sometimes I'd be floored by how far off I was comparing color to value. But! I did stay with it. I am showing this painting (it won 2nd prize in the Student/Teacher show at OSA)! (Applause)!
Yong: Yesterday I talked to Joanne 's high school art class. She had asked me if I could talk to them about how to think abstractly. How to explain that...! I tried, but I felt a little like I was preaching to them. I went to art school...but it wasn't until I worked at Disney that I really concentrated three values. Because of how much they insisted on the three values it got just drilled into me. Nowadays I really don't have to think about it...it comes naturally. What is that expression? "Value does all the work, Color takes all the credit" (Laughter)! Also....squint to see value...but open your eyes to see color! I am showing two paintings that I painted yesterday.
Thomas: I am consistently blown away by Yong's watercolors! I want to concentrate on the masses. It is important to mass the values together (like Yong has done here in this painting). Is the value mass in the light...or is it in the shadow? Howard Pyle said "If it has more than 4 values...throw it away" (Laughter)! It is true, you'll weaken things with too many values. If the scene calls for a 40%, you're just watering it down by including 37%, 30%, 44% etcetera. I like how in Peggie's painting she kept the values so close together. That is just what the French Impressionists did...they kept the values in masses and close together. Is it design or color that makes a painting exceptional ...? That is a question that rages on. The indirect painters may use grissale to get values exactly right...the direct painter has to be able to do it with judgement on-ththee-spot. A great exercise is to take your colors and try to "match" them on your palette. Put out a color...like cad yellow. Mix up a gray that you think matches the yellow... and then take a palette knife to get the gray mixture right adjacent to the color. How well did you do? If the gray and the yellow values seem seamless...you've done it! If you do the exercise..you'll get better at "seeing" it outside or in the studio. I'm showing a painting from my archives.
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"Bonus" points given to anyone who does this exercise for next time
Announcements:
Paint out next Wed Nov 14 9am at Sellwood Park with host David McBride (rain or shine)
Congratulations, Thomas (3rd place) and Yong (multiple sales) great results at Plein Air Texas
Single Pose "Fine Art Friday" Figure session with model
20 drop in fee
Fridays: 1 -4pm
Sept 7 - Dec 2
Sept 7 - Dec 2
Join this “Fine Arts Friday” group. Enjoy the company fellow artists, share art ideas. Work in the drawing or painting medium of your choice. Clothed models with an occasional partial nude.
registration: contact instructor: joradart@comcast.net, 503-752-3708 or OSA: 503-228-0706
Fresh Flower Saturday: $25 drop-in fee per day
Saturdays: 1:30 - 4:30pm
Sept 8 - Dec 22
Paint a new, colorful, fresh flower still life every week. Instructor specialized in expressive alla-prima florals. Work on your oil painting skills and expressive mark making. Classes include instruction, demonstrations, and individual help.
registration: contact instructor: joradart@comcast.net, 503-752-3708 or OSA: 503-228-0706
Joanne Radmilovich Kollman, Reception at Rock Creek Corner Sunday 3-5pm
OSA classes: https://www.osartists.org/classes-and-workshops/classes
Rain/Spark Gallery in Lake Oswego with Dotty Hawthorne and Margaret Joyce and others. First Thursday Nov 1 http://www.rainsparkgallery.com
Oleg Ulitskiy at Art on the Boulevard, First Friday, Nov 2 http://www.artontheboulevard.org
Jeanie Bates Tomorrow Nov 9, 5-7 At Johnstone, 334 3rd Lake Oswego
Call to Artists from Elizabeth Jones Gallery: https://www.elisabethjones.art/call-for-artists.html
Hiatus Drawing club meets after the Alla Prima Meeting at French Quarter
https://www.facebook.com/groups/333152383542909/
Classes with Nancy Smith Klos: http://ateliernangallery.com/workshops
Audubon show Nov 17: http://wildartsfestival.org/about-the-festival
Future paint outs will be announced in this blog and on Facebook
Do you have an idea for a paint out?---hosting one is super fun to do! contact Celeste with proposed date (no Thursdays): celesteobergin@gmail.com
Next Thursday Meeting: French Quarter Thursday 9am November 15 Topic: "Transformation" (Dramatic change)!---has painting "transformed" you? How? Or have you ever started a painting one way just to transformed it completely another way? Tell us anything (as it pertains to painting) on the subject of "Transformation".
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