Workshop2-5value study

5 value study for Workshop 2-- from Chinaman's Bluff 4 photo reference

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Comment by Xiao Li on October 15, 2011 at 3:10: Thank you Richard. Love your painting. So full of light and happiness. I like your stroks. I need to loose up and follow the feeling in the picture.

Comment by Richard Robinson on October 14, 2011 at 20:43: Xiao that's a really good question. Here's a new painting which I think has done this: http://thecompleteartist.ning.com/profiles/blogs/first-day-of-summer

You'll notice that I've made my centre of focus my highest contrast area, but yes it's in the closer midground so it makes a little more sense than doing that in the farground.

Maybe that doesn't necessarily have to be the centre of interest in the workshop2 painting though - I'm personally more interested in the rich colours in the foreground water and grasses. There are no rules, just opinions. (and they can change).

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on October 14, 2011 at 17:15: Richard and Xiao Li, Here is a 5 value BW view of my finished painting which I am putting up on the workshop. I did not follow my 5 value study very well but changed my picture by doing what I often do with my study paintings. What I do is take a digital photo of my underpainting and convert it to B&W and look at the values and make corrections. I do it again before my final strokes. I am either too undisciplined to work it all out in advance in B&W other than quick sketches. And now with Photoshop apps and the Value Viewer app for the iPhone and iPad, I'm cutting even more corners. I don't think that this is the best thing to teach beginning artists and maybe the lack of a good value sketch and notan design is why my plein air paintings sometimes don't come out as good as I would like. But I have tried taking a digital photo part way through a plein air work, loading it into the iPad and doing a value study--is this cheating, or just a clever application of new technology. It may be kind of like the camera obscura for Leonardo. I think it's kind of cool, and I am having a blast in these workshops. Thanks a lot Richard, great fun. I did not answer Xiao Li's question, because I don't know the answer. Maybe you can answer it, Richard. Stu

Comment by Xiao Li on October 14, 2011 at 16:57: I see a conflict when the focal point is at the far end of the picture such as in this case.

Since the river and the lines of the river bank lead the eyes to this focal point, you want the crescendo effect, but because it is at the far end point, the value and contract need to be lower. I am not sure how to decide which rule to follow and how to create the crescendo effect at the far end point?

Comment by Richard Robinson on October 14, 2011 at 15:28: :-) Awesome to see you putting in the work like that. The value of your river was my major concern here and that big light spot of a tree in the middle - all looks too light at the moment.

Comment by Stuart J. Gourlay on October 14, 2011 at 15:00: Richard, Thanks a lot. I actually had taken the photo and printed out my 5 value study from Photoshop elements and used the Value Viewer app to look at my values and then I changed the value on the distant mountains to lighten them up to create my depth. I also did not follow exactly that one or my value study when I painted my submission because I thought the base of the background mountains was too dark and too cool in the photo. I don't think that's cheating; just artistic license. I'm really glad to see you doing your critiques early on; I think it is really helping people a lot. Stu