Last quarter Keith Pfeiffer and I taught a series on color. As promised, this was not a typical color theory class. Here are a few of my favorite student works from one of my favorite exercises.
These paintings are made with compressed values, and some are entirely all one light/dark value. Some of them are so compressed, if you were to take a black and white photograph, the image disappears. One of the students called them invisible paintings.
1 value painting by Chris Harvey
Chris Harvey’s painting in b/w
This idea of painting with compressed values came from Monet’s Impression, Sunrise painting (1872) that launched the impressionist movement. The painting is almost entirely one value, with complementary orange/red and blue/green – the orange bold, and the blue neutralized into a grey.
Monet’s Impression, Sunrise painting (1872)
These invisible paintings produce an incredible vibrating magic when they implement two simple strategies.
Strategy 1: Painting with neutral colors and compressed values can give the painting a dim look, like peering into a scene at dawn or twilight.
Strategy 2: Adding intense color to this dim scene gives a surprising and stunning vibration that feels like light, or energy. These bold colors effectively replace the white of light. With or without the bold vibrating colors, compressed value paintings vibrate like they’re magic.
Strategy 3: Complementary colors, or colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel like red and green or orange and blue give each other a special supercharge. When one is bright and the other is neutral, as in Monet’s painting above, the effect is a powerful glow.
Gil Mendez
Gil Mendez
Christine Clark
Lucy Garnett
Laurie Churchill
Rita Parks
Susan Gregory
Janet Sekijima
Janet Sekijima
Janet Sekijima
Janet Sekijima
Cheryl Chudyk
Cynthia Hardwig
Cathy Hiyashi
Erin Power
Aren’t these fantastic? I love sharing ideas and seeing what people make with them. A good class can be a wonderful sequence of collaborations.
Interested in taking a class like this? Check out my upcoming classes:
Gilbert Stuart’s Unfinished Portrait of George Washington Gilbert Stuart first painted George Washington in 1795 (in a work now known only from copies). That painting was so successful that, according to artist Rembrandt Peale, Martha Washington “wished a Portrait for herself.” She persuaded her husband to sit again for Stuart “on the express condition that …
Thanks to Jennifer Small for sending this in response to yesterday’s post about Degas’ failed historical paintings. This one was painted some time between 1857 and 1862 (dates differ), which was around the same time as he was working on the other historical paintings. Paintings and dates: The Daughter of Jephtha 1860 The Daughter of Jephtha study 1860 Young …
[image_with_animation image_url=”7909″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Suzanne Saroff Set up a backdrop (to minimize visual clutter), and place an object or objects behind water glasses so that they form an interesting composition. Adjust lighting as needed, move things around for maximum effect, and crop for composition. Feel free to submit your work in the form …
Today is the 10th day of our 30 Day Challenge. We are 1/3 done! Sunday is observational drawing day, so I’m sharing an exercise from school, with a twist. Contour Lines “Contour” is the French word for outline, so contour lines are, quite simply, outlines. Contours describe the shape along the edges of a thing. …
Faves from Color Class: Compressed Values
Last quarter Keith Pfeiffer and I taught a series on color. As promised, this was not a typical color theory class. Here are a few of my favorite student works from one of my favorite exercises.
These paintings are made with compressed values, and some are entirely all one light/dark value. Some of them are so compressed, if you were to take a black and white photograph, the image disappears. One of the students called them invisible paintings.
This idea of painting with compressed values came from Monet’s Impression, Sunrise painting (1872) that launched the impressionist movement. The painting is almost entirely one value, with complementary orange/red and blue/green – the orange bold, and the blue neutralized into a grey.
These invisible paintings produce an incredible vibrating magic when they implement two simple strategies.
Strategy 1: Painting with neutral colors and compressed values can give the painting a dim look, like peering into a scene at dawn or twilight.
Strategy 2: Adding intense color to this dim scene gives a surprising and stunning vibration that feels like light, or energy. These bold colors effectively replace the white of light. With or without the bold vibrating colors, compressed value paintings vibrate like they’re magic.
Strategy 3: Complementary colors, or colors that are opposite each other on the color wheel like red and green or orange and blue give each other a special supercharge. When one is bright and the other is neutral, as in Monet’s painting above, the effect is a powerful glow.
Aren’t these fantastic? I love sharing ideas and seeing what people make with them. A good class can be a wonderful sequence of collaborations.
Interested in taking a class like this? Check out my upcoming classes:
Depth in Drawing & Painting begins 1/21
Light and Shadow, Color and Form begins 2/25
See you soon!
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Thanks to Jennifer Small for sending this in response to yesterday’s post about Degas’ failed historical paintings. This one was painted some time between 1857 and 1862 (dates differ), which was around the same time as he was working on the other historical paintings. Paintings and dates: The Daughter of Jephtha 1860 The Daughter of Jephtha study 1860 Young …
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