Blondheim Art Original Paintings

Fall in My Yard
12x16 inches
oil on linen
800.00
Purchase HERE

Art Notes Blog HERE


Linda's Ebay Sale November 19-29, 2007


Painters Tip


More on Values

I did the above painting in my yard Friday afternoon. The scene was very simple and straightforward, with little interest other than the fiery red tree.

To give the painting drama, I focused on that tree, making the more dominant sized tree much darker than it actually was. I was ever aware of the NOTAN process of making values more dramatic than in reality. Pushing the values in the painting gives it much more pizaz than the actual scene was showing. Making most of the color fairly neutral and dark against the tree gives it far more star power than it would have had with accurate values. I also used little texture in the forward tree on the right, saving all of the sharp textural brushork for the star of the scene.

All of this takes planning. I like to think about what I want to do before I dig in to start. Where will the dominant value be in the painting? Will it be dark, light, mid value? Where will the color intensity be most evident? If I contain it and make it sing in the area of focus, leaving everything else fairly neutral, it will really be powerful.

I will leave this painting in the rotation for a few days and then go back to correct any errors.