A subscriber admits being perplexed by the array of value scales available. Artist/art teacher Dianne Mize looks at the history of value scales and proposes a simple solution. www.diannemize.com
Dianne, I don’t know how to express my appreciation for your teaching skills, artistic skills, generosity, warmth and sense of humour except by declaring you an International Living Treasure! I Your encyclopaedic knowledge is to be expected after decades of painting and teaching, but your ability to communicate that to artists of all levels is exceptional. Thank you! I hope the Easter bunny visited you but kept its distance.
Hi Dianne. I love your videos. Thank you very much. I paint folk art in oil, but love watching fine art instruction, many concepts still apply. - Along the lines of the 1 to 10 scale (black to white). I bought 9 tubes of "Golden Artist Colors" acrylic. The tubes are labeled "Bone Black", "N2 Neutral Gray", "N3 Neutral Gray", "N4 Neutral Gray", "N5 Neutral Gray", "N6 Neutral Gray", "N7 Neutral Gray", "N8 Neutral Gray", and "Titanium White". So Golden's scale is from 1 to 9 (black to white). I have painted the back of my glass pallet with N5, and I also have a scale painted on one edge. Definitely have to squint to determine the value of many colors like yellow and orange. Thanks again, happy painting, stay safe.
Thanks for sharing that, Robert. You are right: the value principles are universal regardless of your genre of painting. I think of it as how an engine in a car works--the same basic principles are needed regardless of the brand of the car.
Thank you Dianne for another great video! I'm still a little confused by this in shadow/not in shadow thing. How does local value come into play with it, e.g. if you have a black and white form where part of the black is in light and part of the white is in shadow? Would in this case some values in light be darker than some values in shadow and vice versa?
Direct light hitting any dark surface will show that area of the surface in a light value. Observe it for yourself. Look at a dark tree trun in direct light. Notice how, on the side where the sun rays are striking it, just how light it is. It is what light is doing that causes value more than the local value itself.
I think you're asking about the saturation of the color. To reduce saturation, mix in the color's complement. A saturate color moving into shadow will become less saturated, darker and a bit cooler.
Alicia, that need not be. Every art has a technical side. We learn the technical in order to be free to create. Playing a violin requires knowing how to tune the instrument, how to hold the bow, how-to---and I could keep going. Painting is no different. Without building skills, we are limited in what we can do.
