Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Values—Teapot, 6x6 inches


After the sphere, it seemed natural to paint Sarajean's teapot. We premixed the values and then happily applied paint, not really adhering to a systematic approach. From classes I took with Dennis Perrin, I learned the importance of keeping the value families distinct. (And that's what I'm still trying to master!) Whatever is in the shadow stays in the shadow value range. The lights stay in the value range for the lights. You've may have heard the seemingly confusing statement: the darkest dark in the light is always lighter than the lightest light in the shade. (I am now feeling confused myself! I hope I wrote that correctly!) If you've never experienced this or can't imagine it, you could put a black piece of paper in the light and a white piece of paper in the shade and check it out!

Related to that, reflected light in a shadow (as you see in the belly of the teapot) often appears to be lighter than it actually is. Why? Because it's surrounded by darker values. A small hole punched in cardboard can help you isolate the colors and compare them. It's easy to overstate the lightness of reflected light. To make it convincing, I always try to keep it in the value range of the darks. (Thank you Dennis Perrin.)

4 comments:

Sandra Galda said...

love it!
Yes, that concept twirls around in my head....and I do get confused about it!

Libby Fife said...

I am enjoying these last two value studies. It looks like we are on a similar track in trying to learn to keep the shadow and light families distinct. Very difficult!

Sunny West said...

Great advice and reminder of value changes and effect of light. Thank you. Great painting of the teapot!

Lorraine Shirkus said...

Beautiful teapot! Looks totally believable value-wise and it has such a nice light and feel.