Make Your Own Value Chart

 This entry was originally posted on Wednesday, March 14, 2012 

The success of a painting is based more on getting correct values than on the colors that you use.

Values are the shades of grey between black and white.

You can buy value charts or you can make your own. This can be done by using your black watercolor paint or by mixing French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna.

I made my own value chart by first mixing my US into a black and painting it into a rectangle I drew onto my watercolor paper. This will be value 10. Value 1 is the white of the paper.

Then I slowly added water to make it lighter and lighter. Each time I painted more rectangles until my mixture was like weak tea and became a light value.

Then I counted out 10 different values to use for my value scale

(remember 1 is white and 10 is black)

After cutting out my rectangles, I then punched two holes into the each rectangle.

One hole is for a ring to put through and the other hole can be used to compare values.

I will place the hole over my photo then my painting to check if I have the correct value.

It helps to squint your eyes to see if the value matches.

Now you can adjust the value of the painting if it doesn't match the photo.

Gorgeous Greys

   This entry was originally posted on Monday, March 12, 2012 

Gray may seem like a boring color but you can have gorgeous grays by mixing your complimentary colors.
Complimentary colors are those that are opposites on the color wheel.
Some of my favorite greys are the following mixes:

 New Gamboge and Carbazole Violet

(or make your own violet with any blue and red)

 

Permanent Alizarin Crimson and Winsor Green

 

And my most recent favorite:

Cadmium Scarlet and Winsor Blue (green shade)

 

Now there are no more boring grays!

More Reasons to Love the Best Black

  This entry was originally posted on Monday, March 5, 2012 

There are so many reasons to love the mixture of French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna for your blacks.

One is that you can vary your black between the warm and cool and give it life.

This can be seen in the window behind the portrait of Harold.

If it were just black, it wouldn't be as interesting and it would look like a black hole.

Harold

My greys in the wood are also done with the US combo.  

Another reason to love this combination is that both French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna granulate and push and pull each other. I love that!! 

Knowing this, I can use it in places where I want texture.

For instance, I use it for rocks like below.

 

The Best Black becomes the Best Grey

   This entry was originally posted on Saturday, March 3, 2012

Now that you know how to mix a good black, you can make an even more fabulous grey.

Just add water to your US (French Ultramarine Blue and Burnt Sienna) mixture and you now have grey.

To make it a warm grey, add more of the brown (burnt sienna).

To make a cool grey, add more blue (french ultramarine)