Shiner - value study

I painted this one almost entirely upside down except for the final touches. I started with only 5 values (1, 3, 5, 7 and 9, 9 being the lightest) (I should have taken a picture at this point :(
The background (reflection in the window) was competing too much with the subject itself (the cat) .  So I changed the the background using the values 8, 7 and 6. (No picture of that step either.) Then  the foreground: the bed (or what looks like a chair) and the cat were too much the same and too dark. So to separate the two I decreased the bed value to the lowest (value 1 and) and used values 3, 4 and 5 for the cat shadow and values 5, 8, 9 on his light side.

Anyway that may be too much information... I could have played with this one a lot longer, but I'm happy with it.

Shiner - value study

"Petit Kahsmir", 5-value study

I did most of this painting upside down. It helps to stay focused on the shape themselves instead of what I'm painting (like an eye, a ear, ...) Then I turned the painting around for the final touches. I 'm very happy with his facial expression. That looks like him.

Oh, oh I forgot to paint whiskers...

"Petit Kashmir", 5-value study

5-value study of Kashmir

Here's a 5-value study of Kashmir. I spent way too much time on this one... but I'm happy with it.

5-value study of Kashmir

5-value study of Shiner

Here's a 5-value study of Shiner.

5-value study of Shiner

5-value study of Ken's corner

Here's Ken's corner. He practices classical music every night... It's too bad my musical side is too weak/underdeveloped to have a full appreciation of his playing.

I thought this would make a successful painting. I tried (twice) to use colors that would match these values, but apparently that is not enough... :-)

5-value study of Ken's corner.

5-value study of the goose fountain

Here is the goose fountain again, but this time instead of 10 I used 5 values.

The 5-value study forces me to simplify the values that I see into the 5 paint values I have. The result has a stronger value pattern/contrast and it shows the slight better. I should keep that in mind when I paint with colors...

5-value study of the goose fountain.

10--value study of the goose fountain.

5-value study of a fountain

Same fountain again (in Lasdon Park, NY), this time I used only 5 values instead 10 values. It forces me to make decisions and simplify value patterns.

I'm happy with this one and I think I'll leave this fountain alone for a little while :-)

5-value study of a fountain.

My subject for the study.

5-value study of the Nina ship in Newburg

Here's a 5-value study of an old ship replica. This one is Nina and it was docked at the Newburg Marina.

I settled to paint the bottom part of the boat to avoid painting all the straight lines. I was painting on the dock and it was moving

5-value study of Nina.

At the end of the session at the Newburg Marina.

Value study of a fountain (again)

Same fountain as in the previous post, with a different view and different conditions. This time I painted the fountain with stronger value difference with a "faded" background. The water at the top is coming out from what looks like flutes that each boy is playing.

Now I see that the bottom pool is not quite in proportion with the other levels. I spent so much time on that part and couldn't figure out what was off...

Value study of a fountain (again).

At the end of the session... 

Value study of a fountain

I spent about two hours on this value study... I painted only one of the two boys at the top. At this angle it would have been confusing to paint both of them (for me and the viewer :-).

I couldn't figure out how to make the fountain stand out like the real thing. It was mostly in the shade but brighter than everything else around... I need to try this one again.

Value study of a fountain.

At the end of the session.

Value study of a statue of a women holding a basket of flowers

That was my effort for the day: a value study of a statue of a woman holding a basket of flowers.  The shoulders could be lower a little, but other than that, I'm pretty happy with the result.

Value study of a statue.

At the end of the session... my setup and the statue in the background.

Value study of a goose foutain

I have been doing some value studies recently. Here's one a "goose fountain" (not working at the moment). I dedicated a sketchbook for these value studies: Beta Sketchbook from Stillman & Birn. I use heavy body acrylic by Golden. I use carbon black, titanium white and 7 neutral grays (N2 - N8) in between. So no mixing, just dip the brush and apply. Sounds simple, right?... I spent about 2 hours on this one. :-)

Hopefully, I'll get better/faster at seeing value patterns and better plan my paintings. I'll try to stick to value studies for a little longer...

Value study of  a goose fountain (not working) :-)

Here's the real thing I tried to paint.

Part of my setup at the end of my session.

Oil Study #126: Un Coquetier Noir

This is a black ceramic "coquetier" (eggcup). There was so much reflection on it that I was afraid of not getting the values right if I used colors. So I was a chicken and went for plain black and white :-)

Oil on canvas, 6 x 6"

Value studies from Carol Marine's workshop

At the workshop last week (with Carol Marine) we did some value studies. The first one is the same pepper I had painted in color that day (see previous post).

The next day we did three more value studies with 3 values. We had 30 minutes for the first one, 15 minutes, and 5 minutes for the next two. We had to choose which value (dark, medium or light) would be dominant, which one would be secondary and the "smidge".

My first value study is an orange on a plate where the medium value is dominant, the dark secondary and the light the smidge. The second value study one has a dominant light value, a secondary medium value and the smidge is the darkest value (the cherry and the cup). I wanted my third value study to be dark dominant... in 5 minutes... well I tried it and wiped it not long after. If I recall it was definitely the dark value dominant but there was not much else. It looked like a mess. This exercise turned out to be more difficult that I anticipated. Probably because of the time constraint. But almost everyone did better with less time. It forces you to make quick decisions and stick to them. You don't have time to change your mind anyway.

BTW: here's a group picture for the workshop.