Values: Dark & Light

Students will learn to bring dynamic contrast to their drawings and paintings with logic, balance and harmony. They will analyze the dark and light patterns in master paintings, photos, and objects, and then go forward to create their own works of art. Teacher demos, handouts, and individual guidance will help.

Day 1: Saturday will begin with a warm-up exercise of gesture drawing, followed by a discussion about dividing dark and light, seeing shadows as shapes, the different kinds of shadows, and how they behave in different kinds of lighting. If it is sunny, we will step outside to see the various qualities of different types of shadows.

1. Exercises will include Creating “notans,” (simplified black and white images with ink and brush) from a still-life in a large shadow box, lit with a floodlight.

2. Creating notans from photo reference.

3. Creating simplified thumbnails based on master paintings, divided into two values, and then four values.

4. Charcoal drawing from a black and white photo, attempting to accurately match the values.

Day 2: Sunday, Students will do a painting from a photo of their choice, in oils or acrylic, using a limited palette, and following the principles they learned the previous day. Class will begin with a teacher demo, and students are welcome to paint along from the same image if they choose.

A variety of photo images will be available in the classroom, but students are also welcome to bring their own.

Student Drawing Materials:

• Sketch book, 9x12 is a good size but larger is fine. It's good to also have a smaller sketchbook for drawing in public without feeling conspicuous.

• Pencils, some light and some dark, I'm using an ordinary #2 pencil for the light one and a 9b woodless graphite pencil for the dark, but there plenty of choices. H pencils are lighter, the higher the number the lighter, and B pencils are darker, the higher the number the darker, so 9B is very dark, and 6H is very light.

• A kneaded eraser.

• Charcoal, some vine and some block. Or charcoal pencils if you want to keep your hands clean.

• A chamois and a blending stump if you like to keep your hands clean (I use my fingers).

• A watercolor brush and black ink or black acrylic paint

• A water container

Student Painting Materials:

• A canvas board or stretched canvas, a size you are comfortable with. Somewhere between 9x12 and 18x24 would work.

• Oil or acrylic paint: Dioxazine purple, cadmium orange and titanium white.

• Turpenoid or Gamsol and linseed oil or your favorite medium and a small container if you're using oil paint.

• Water container and spray bottle if you're using acrylic.

• Your favorite brushes.

• Any kind of palette.

• Paper towels or rags.

• A photo you'd like to paint from

Jessica will supply Newsprint paper, photo reference images.

Host or Publisher Artists Council