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The Value Of Value

Richard Nelson · Mar 21, 2016 · 2 Comments

Mango 14×11 Oil
Mango 14×11 Oil

When teaching, the first thing I like to point out is that PAINTING IS HARD! So after 20 years or so it was interesting to try to break painting down into its essential parts in order to be a better instructor. Of course, there is nothing new here other than the way my brain has distilled my ongoing education. See if anything below resonates with you.
After much thinking and analyzing I realized that my seven steps are inspiration, composition, drawing, value, color, paint application (includes edges), and calling it done. It also seems that there is usually an element of contrast or balance to most steps; something dominant and supportive in the composition (not 50/50), some stuff drawn out or rendered out and some less so, some dark and some light, strong color and muted color, sharp edges and soft edges, thick paint in the light and thin darks… and usually not half and half or 100% or 0% in any of these aspects.
Truly one can spend the rest of one’s life in any of these steps or areas, and yet as artists we generally wield them simultaneously! This is why PAINTING IS HARD. I make the analogy to juggling or spinning plates. And just to make it more complicated, sometimes if we get too involved in process we somehow defeat the spark which inspired us to make art. To use a musical analogy, we don’t enjoy listening to musicians practicing scales. We want to hear creative melodies and stories. In painting this is ‘picture making’.
In terms of subjects, still life is a great way to hone the process. You don’t have to contend with changing weather and light as you do when painting landscape, and you don’t need the artistic anatomy understanding of the figurative or portrait artist. You can have your setup available for as long as you need, and you can even begin to introduce narrative or other kinds of inspiration; color, drawing; whatever is motivating you. Once you have a handle on your process and materials you can venture into other subjects with some confidence.
It became apparent after teaching a few workshops that folks were missing value, which is simply the range from light to dark with which we render form through light and shadow. It is a foundation for representational painting, and yet it seems that often we are seduced by color, and miss value. This can really create problems and frustration! So, I began starting still life classes with an exercise where everyone paints a simple object monochromatically, and then in color; the same size on the same canvas, side by side.
Green Apple 11×14 Oil
Apple On Blue 12×12 Oil

It’s quite a revelation. I will wager that nearly any painting that you love will look good in black and white. The values are like a great skeleton on which the painting hangs. And sadly the inverse is also true; when a painting isn’t rocking your world you’ll often find that it doesn’t hold up well in grayscale either.
Bradley B/W 20×16 Oil
Bradley 20×16 Oil
St Simon’s Lighthouse B/W 20×16 Oil
St Simon’s Lighthouse 20×16 Oil
Those Shoes B/W 12×12 Oil
Those Shoes 12×12 Oil

So, try leaning into value a bit and you might make some quick progress! Just spend a little extra time trying to capture the accurate range of light and shadow before getting lost in color.
And don’t forget the secret eighth step: REPEAT OFTEN!

Oil Painting Oil Painting, Paints, Teaching

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Marsha Savage says

    March 22, 2016 at 6:38 am

    Wonderful post… and a good time for me to read this. I will be teaching a full workshop in about three weeks, and you’ve given me things to consider anew when talking to my students. I do understand value, and know we must depend on it. I have been concentrating on teaching students some color theory. I probably need to pay more attention to those students that might not have the value thing as well as they need to do so. I do always discuss and demo it, but might be moving a little too fast “out” of that discussion and into the color. Yes, we juggle! And we win and we lose… but you have stated quite nicely some of the thoughts / steps we should be using. Thanks to you, I will put a little more emphasis this time on paying attention to the value before concentrating on those color theories!

    Reply
    • Rich Nelson says

      March 22, 2016 at 7:46 am

      Thanks Marsha!
      Try having the class do that exercise with the monochromatic/color apple or mango or whatever. It seems to get the value wheels spinning! Good luck and have fun!

      Reply

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Richard Nelson
Though portraiture is a major part of Nelson's career, he also loves painting landscape, still life, and figurative gallery pieces. He is endlessly fascinated by people, places, and things and considers it a privilege and a challenge to capture some aspect of their essence on canvas.
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