Value Painting with Sarah

Hi everyone! Today I'd like to give you a little insight into one of my painting lessons, and let you peek into my very messy and small art studio.  Yesterday my sweet student Sarah, 13, came by for her second lesson with me, and we were working on value painting.  In a nutshell, value is the lightness/darkness of an object.  For still lifes, I consider it to be the second most important facet of a successful painting, following the accurate rendering (drawing) of the shapes. 

We started with a value scale.  Sarah first made a rich black from Ultramarine Blue+Burnt Umber ( I never use the pre-made black). 

Next she mixed the black with varying degrees of Titanium White, to arrive at a final scale ranging from white through all the light grey values, to mid-tones and into dark values, ending in black.

Next she sketched out the still life onto the canvas paper with vine charcoal. 

We used a simple still life with basic shapes for this value lesson.

While Sarah was working, I asked her lots of questions to get to know her better: artistic interests, likes/dislikes, favorite music so I can make an appropriate playlist for her lessons, favorite subject matter, hobbies, etc...I do this with all my students early on so I can get a feel for their personality as well as plan a schedule of interesting and appropriate lessons for her.  Since no two are alike, I tend to tailor lessons specifically for each individual. 

A gave her a little demonstration of what we were going for with the painting of the objects.  Nothing super-realistic or perfect, but the aim is to match the correct value for each object and its cast shadow.

Sarah's value painting underway, and she's doing a great job!

Usually sometime around the first few lessons, I put together a little starter drawing kit (graphite pencils 2B and 4B, erasers, charcoal sticks, a little sketchpad...) for my students.  For years, I have been saving the paper palettes with dried-up paint, thinking I would somehow use the dried paint in an abstract painting or collage-type piece.  Today I decided I'd make a special paper bag for her kit, and this is the finished product.  I just peeled pieces of paint off the paper palettes and adhered them to the bag with matte-medium in an abstracty pattern.  Cute for art-related gifts!

Until next time! Have a great day!


Xoxo,
Beth