top: Lucian Freud (1922-2011)

bottom: not Lucian Freud

Just kidding. Value studies. Today’s exercise is to mix colors (hues) so that they have the same saturation.

I was given a “shortcut” or learning tool – the black and white filter on my phone camera. Cool! Ultimately, of course, I want to develop my eye so that I can see the differences in values without “help”, but hey – this is a neat way to understand the exercise.

Below are my mixed colors. I’m trying to match the value of the red in the upper left corner. Now I can see the swatches that match and those that don’t.

All the color mixing skills were coming along. Then the teacher pulled a switcheroo. It’s not so much about the color of the apple (red) but the light on the apple. Warm light? cool light? Monet painted the light on one haystack over and over: noon, sunrise, cloudy, whatever. It was not about the hay being yellow. Just about beginning to understand that!

this one is about being true to the color of the objects.

this one is about TRYING to paint the light on the objects.

and the following week – “local” color, warm/cool, color of light, value (light/dark), “turning” to show shape. Whew. Where are the crayons?!?

So . . . next session – even more changes (subtle?) – and perhaps done with this?

I have more confidence in drawing than painting. But happily, I’m on the 10-year plan. Ten years of learning and then ten years of greater mastery and more choices.

Pears: d’anjou, red d’anjou and bosc (charcoal & pastel).

one note: I only used cadmium red, ultramarine blue and hansa yellow, plus white to paint this (acrylic).

See what I did there? LOL

Still painting on my own from Leslie Frontz’s book. This was tonight’s lesson. Poor sad doggie.

first pass:

second pass:

third pass:

Returned to watercolor for home practice. My oil paint classes are cancelled this week. This is a value study, trying to make sense of stuff through lights and darks.

Three tries! The first (from the practice book) included a background. That was too much for me to work on. With 2 & 3, just worked on Farmer Clyde.