Thanks Jeremy. Yes, John F. Carlson is definitely the influence here. He called it the theory of angles but it is the same. It is a hard concept to get your head around, but it really is the key to conveying quickly understood design.
Hey Brad~ Just wanted to thank you sincerely for all the wonderful information you've been sharing. Your "thick paint" blog has truly re-inspired me and I check in daily. I was very pleased with a painting I did yesterday using your "palette knife to brush" transfer technique, preserving fresh bands of color. Your work is amazing and thank you for your generosity... I was told that's the motto of the PA Academy: "Artists helping other artists." Take good care my friend and all the best in the new year! John http://www.JohnHannafin.com
Thank you for your efforts on these video's, the writing and how you explain the lessons. You can be told the same thing many times, but sometimes it takes that certain way a person words the explanation to have it really sink in. The expression "You want me to draw you a picture" comes to mind. Haha
Thanks for a very clear explanation of the basic values of landscapes. One complication.... Living in a mountainous area I find that distant mountains are often lighter than nearer foothills because of atmospheric scattering of light. In effect, the more distant they are, the more they approximate the value of the sky.
Thanks John and Daniel. I appreciate your feedback.
Regarding shadows, Tom, I think of a tree as just one big value shape. Let's say a three value on the nine value scale. When I paint my dark shadow accents into this value the way I press the brush into the paint influences how those two color mingle. If I press pretty hard with the brush handle away from the canvas (perpendicular) I will get a stroke that is mostly the underlying color. If I lay the brush more parallel to the canvas the color on my brush will lay right over the top of the underlying color. The point is I want the underlying value to bias the added accent color so that it visually fuses with that value zone. From a distance of ten paces or so this new accent should read as a value three (the original color zone value).
Decker, you are right. The values of these zones will fluctuate depending on atmospheric conditions. The idea to keep in mind is that these zones represent distinct values. Use these distinct values zones to form the basic pattern of your painting.
The mountains here in Utah can be quite near with little atmosphere in between to simplify and lighten value, so they remain very dark. Further complicating things, the mountains occlude so much of the sky that the sky will be quite dark (since it is a slice of the sky far from the horizon). As long as my value zones are very distinct (that is there is not a lot of value flucation introduced into these areas), these two area will read as separate zones.
ADDENDUM-Take a look at the shadow on the road in the video 5 Value Zones, the part where the gray values are appearing over the sky, the mountain, etc. When the gray value goes into the road it covers the shadow that overlaps the road. That is; I am think about the road as one value zone.
This represents the way I actually painted this zone. After painting a thick layer of light value paint onto the road I then got a heavy brush load of cool, dark paint. I laid this in varying the angle of my brush so that I mingled quite a bit of the road color into that stroke. From a distance it partakes of the road color and value yet reads as a shadow. If there were more shadow area I would have had to lighten the value of the shadow stroke so that it didn't highjack that value and introduce value ambiguity into that zone.
Nice audio upgrade! Also, a great reminder of stuff I read in Carlson. I like how you posterize the values before getting into more subtle variations.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jeremy. Yes, John F. Carlson is definitely the influence here. He called it the theory of angles but it is the same. It is a hard concept to get your head around, but it really is the key to conveying quickly understood design.
ReplyDeleteHey Brad~
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to thank you sincerely for all the wonderful information you've been sharing. Your "thick paint" blog has truly re-inspired me and I check in daily. I was very pleased with a painting I did yesterday using your "palette knife to brush" transfer technique, preserving fresh bands of color. Your work is amazing and thank you for your generosity... I was told that's the motto of the PA Academy: "Artists helping other artists." Take good care my friend and all the best in the new year!
John
http://www.JohnHannafin.com
Thank you for your efforts on these video's, the writing and how you explain the lessons.
ReplyDeleteYou can be told the same thing many times, but sometimes it takes that certain way a person words the explanation to have it really sink in.
The expression "You want me to draw you a picture" comes to mind. Haha
Thanks Brad!
Hi Brad
ReplyDeleteSo how do you determine the value of the shadows in the painting? I assume you try to limit the number of values. Another great video.
Thanks
Tom
Thanks for a very clear explanation of the basic values of landscapes. One complication.... Living in a mountainous area I find that distant mountains are often lighter than nearer foothills because of atmospheric scattering of light. In effect, the more distant they are, the more they approximate the value of the sky.
ReplyDeleteThanks John and Daniel. I appreciate your feedback.
ReplyDeleteRegarding shadows, Tom, I think of a tree as just one big value shape. Let's say a three value on the nine value scale. When I paint my dark shadow accents into this value the way I press the brush into the paint influences how those two color mingle. If I press pretty hard with the brush handle away from the canvas (perpendicular) I will get a stroke that is mostly the underlying color. If I lay the brush more parallel to the canvas the color on my brush will lay right over the top of the underlying color. The point is I want the underlying value to bias the added accent color so that it visually fuses with that value zone. From a distance of ten paces or so this new accent should read as a value three (the original color zone value).
Decker, you are right. The values of these zones will fluctuate depending on atmospheric conditions. The idea to keep in mind is that these zones represent distinct values. Use these distinct values zones to form the basic pattern of your painting.
The mountains here in Utah can be quite near with little atmosphere in between to simplify and lighten value, so they remain very dark. Further complicating things, the mountains occlude so much of the sky that the sky will be quite dark (since it is a slice of the sky far from the horizon). As long as my value zones are very distinct (that is there is not a lot of value flucation introduced into these areas), these two area will read as separate zones.
ADDENDUM-Take a look at the shadow on the road in the video 5 Value Zones, the part where the gray values are appearing over the sky, the mountain, etc. When the gray value goes into the road it covers the shadow that overlaps the road. That is; I am think about the road as one value zone.
ReplyDeleteThis represents the way I actually painted this zone. After painting a thick layer of light value paint onto the road I then got a heavy brush load of cool, dark paint. I laid this in varying the angle of my brush so that I mingled quite a bit of the road color into that stroke. From a distance it partakes of the road color and value yet reads as a shadow. If there were more shadow area I would have had to lighten the value of the shadow stroke so that it didn't highjack that value and introduce value ambiguity into that zone.