Understanding the Value of Values



Values are among the most important concepts or techniques in painting. Often teachers will tell you that if you have the values down right, it really doesn't matter WHAT COLOR you use to paint a form... it will look right if the values are right.

I've been taking classes from Johanna Spinks for almost a year now and was feeling more confident about seeing and (more importantly) painting values...... until the gold vase appeared in this still life set up.

In Johanna's classes, she patiently teaches a five value system which she has learned from many sources. She teaches both still life and figurative painting and strongly feels that one genre compliments the other.

The trouble with that vase was that it was so pretty and if you look carefully at the above photo of the set up, you can see that while the light is coming from the side to the right of the photo there seems to be this lovely golden "light" on the dark side. Well that's the way I painted it at first. I painted what I saw. I had done the "unthinkable".... I had painted a light family value on the dark side. I even painted in lovely reflections there. (And I liked it too..)

My mistake was forgetting that no value that is in the dark side can be as light as any value in the light family. Johanna did a quick four-minute demo (which I've tried to duplicate above) since several of us were struggling with ourselves trying to overcome our seemingly overwhelming desire to paint what we saw, not what we know. She said that unless we painted the values correctly we would loose the form... the turning of the vase. So I dutifully repainted it. The above WIP is how I left it on the first session. Mind you, Johanna is always saying that there "are no rules... just tools", and that all teachers will say different things... so it is up to the STUDENT to decide what works, then break the rules to become famous." She's said and I've often read how dangerous it is to become a workshop junky... jumping from one school of thought to another without really UNDERSTANDING and letting one school of thought become YOURS. I don't want to become a clone of another painter... but I would like to deeply understand what makes that painter successful... and use that to paint my own successful work.

Part of the reason I blog is to help me process or review in my mind and that's what I'm trying to do now. This set up was more complicated than many, so Johanna will set it up the next time we do a still life and we'll all have another go at trying to complete it. Hopefully by that time I can "get it".

On a less frustrating note for me... Johanna always brings in her books showing the work of various artists to illustrate a point she's making. During this class she began talking about David Leffel and his books, one of which I had recently finished and blogged about in an earlier post. She helped clear up for me what Leffel was talking about when he talked about a concept of a painting. Basically, I think, he's talking about what Johanna calls the "story of a painting"... or perhaps, less broadly, the composition. She used several of the fabulous paintings from his book to indicate that one painting was "about" the light while another was "about" the objects in a space. This was more understandable to me.... thus easier to use as I plan a painting.

I love learning and trying to really understand things... it's a real gift! It's one of many gifts my Mom and Dad passed on to me... ... Thanks for passing on the gift of life and love! (Today is my birthday.)

15 Responses to Understanding the Value of Values

James Beach
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Happy birthday Marian and many more. I think I'm begining to understand about values after reading this blog and seeing your two efforts. The golden vase looks great in the second one. Love, Dad
Shirley Quaid
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OK, let me get this straight. She said paint what you know, not what you see? That is the EXACT opposite of everything I have ever heard or read. I don't get it.


Bob Ragland
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When I was in art school eons ago, the instructor taught the students a three value method of drawing and painting. I have found the value method to be very helpful for interpreting what you see in front of you. We worked in a series of grays first before we painted in color.

Personally I don't try to get exact color when I am painting.

Bravo for values.

Kate
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Happy Birthday! I had to smile reading your blog because getting the values right - especially in a plein air situation - has always been (and continues to be!) a challenge for me. I think I get distracted by color! Doing pencil sketches is a good way to eliminate the confusion of color and force the eye to see the values.

Sharon Weaver
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Happy Birthday!!!!!!!!!!I hope you are having a great celebration and are enjoying the day.

This is a very interesting blog with a lot of stuff to digest. I understand that a mid-color can look light if it is against a darker color so maybe that is how you get the highlights on the dark side of the vase. Hummm.



Elizabeth Pearson
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Happy birthday Marian. And thanks for passing on your incredible teacher's lessons and comments. You are very lucky to be able to tap into the teaching facilities you have in the US. Johanna sounds amazing.


Shelley Smart
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Hi, Marian! Happy Birthday! I love reading your blogs; they help me feel connected to art/artists/J's class. Thanks! Shelley


Shirley Quaid
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Happy Birthday Marian! and thank you for commenting on my site. I have been all over yours and really enjoyed the trip. Lots of really fine art here!


johanna spinks
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KNOWLEDGE of value to turn form, pushing the two separate families of light and shadow, and paint it that way.



Maybe this point needs to be made more clear. Ultimately you can paint anything anyway you like. YOU are the artist.



.

johanna spinks
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This is for Shirley......



It is not so much about not painting what you see but painting your view of the world with a KNOWLEDGE of value to turn form, keeping the two families of light and shadow separate.



Maybe this point needs to be made more clear here. Ultimately you can paint anything anyway you like. YOU are the artist after all.



The biggest problem I see in paintings of my students is them painting what they see without any 'value editing'. Reflections on dark side of pot the same value as the light side of the pot. Look at David Leffel's work. He is editing everything he sees. Yes, painting what he sees but also painting what he knows around careful control of values.



.

Shirley Quaid
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Thank you Johanna for clarifying that. Will you be in Texas anytime soon to hold classes? :)

johanna spinks
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Marian: Yes, I am looking forward to class too tomorrow. Thank goodness it is a real person to paint and not that darn gold pot. So much easier. I am going to have to build my teaching strength up for that pot again! I will bring in Eggnog for it. We will not even worry about values then. Just SLUR what we see.



Shirley: Thank you... I will let you know if I am Texas-bound. Email me so we can keep in touch. Good luck with your painting - I enjoyed your website


Frank Gardner
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Hi Marian, I decided to come over to this blog too and see what was going on. I'm glad I did, because I can see what Johanna is saying a little better.

I find the same thing in my classes... she said.."The biggest problem I see in paintings of my students is them painting what they see without any 'value editing'. Reflections on dark side of pot the same value as the light side of the pot."



I am more of a painting what you see type teacher, but I understand her why of saying what she did about paint what you know not what you see. I think painting what you "know" can get you in trouble and keep you from seeing unique and subtle things in any particular scene or set up. It makes you think more of how it "should" be, not how it is in that situation.

"Painting with knowledge" is good.

But reading how Johanna stated it above, I think we can agree that the issue is the "seeing", and maybe more than that, understanding how to mix that color that you see. Too often the wrong colors and values are mixed and that throws everything off.

Does that make any sense at all?


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For Frank: Thank you for your dialogue regarding my teaching principal, above mentioned here. I also enjoyed looking at your work.

I think it is hard when a teaching principal is taken out of the four walls of a teaching room like this with the personal discussion no longer present in which the comment was originally made.

However, I stand by my statement. Paint what you know. You can paint 'what you see' all you want but if you have no knowledge going onto that canvas of value control to create form and light flow, color harmony, color temperature effects, edge treatment, brush work to help describe form, your painting will not be as strong or convincing within the TONAL school of painting I personally enjoy on my art journey.

Once you have this KNOWLEDGE, you can then paint what you see with amazing results. I say also all the time in my class, there are NO rules in painting just TOOLS. And the above mentioned are the tools I use to paint. And I am all about HAPPY ACCIDENTS in painting when it all just comes together without any thinking at all.

Magic happens then as you know.

This is just MY way. MY approach that has worked for me very well. Another artist or teacher will not think the same as me nor should they. Art is an individual language and isn't supposed to have uniform rules. But paying students in my class/workshops are there for a reason. Because they like the look of my work and want to see my approach. I find this very rewarding.

Eventually they will move onto another teacher when they are sick of me to learn his/her approach where they will be given a different set of rules/tools.

Lastly we should all be aware of the following principal in art: PARALYSIS BY ANALYSIS.
Johanna Spinks
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The above comment for Frank was posted by Johanna Spinks








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