Color has three aspects: hue (red, blue yellow, etc), intensity (saturation), and value. Value is how light or dark a color is on a scale from 1 to 10. For this discussion 1 is the darkest or black and 10 is the lightest or white. Value is very important for the success of any kind of painting whether it is hyper-realistic, abstract or non-representational. This gives contrast between shapes.

 

I always recommend to my students that they draw a thumbnail sketch that has at least white and black. This is called a notan. However, in my world it is helpful to include a gray. The thumbnail is just a couple of inches in size and it clearly shows the large shapes and their value. Shapes are not objects. A shape in a landscape could include a row of trees including the dark vegetation next to them. There is no detail in the thumbnail and it takes only a couple of minutes to make.

 

 

The quick sketch firmly establishes the value pattern on your surface. It imprints the design in your mind. This gives you freedom! As long as the value in the shape is correct, you can use any color.

 

OK, but how do you see the value in your subject and paint? The most important thing is to squint.  Squinting diminishes the color so that you can see how light or dark it is. When you want to see the color or hue, open your eyes. When you want to see value, squint.

 

There are tools on the market that are very helpful in assessing value. Below is a view finder with a red film. The first photo is with the viewer open and the second is with it closed over a grid. My view finder is dirty from use so the gray scale next to the windows is off.

 

When you look through the red film in the window, it negates color and you can clearly see the value of the shapes. The windows are proportionate to common sizes of painting surfaces so it also helps you to crop your subject to the size of your painting surface. The grid helps you with composition and drawing. This type of view finder is particularly helpful in plein air painting. You can actually buy glasses with a red tint.

 

 

Of course you probably have technology that can also be helpful. Take a picture with your smart phone and use the editing app to put it into black and white. Or, if you are on your tablet or computer, there are apps or programs to put your photo into black and white. I have Photoshop Elements for this purpose but there are many others.

 

If you have a photograph as a reference, then a gray scale and value finder is helpful. This is an example.

 

 

I highly recommend making a 10 value scale of your own. Use white paint for value 10 and black for 1. Then mix grays in gradual steps as in the picture above. It is a good exercise for anyone and might not be as easy as you would think.

 

Now, how do you use it? You put the holes over the color and squint. The hole that seems to disappear is the value of your color. For example, this scale is put on an off white paper. Even though it is off white, the hole that is closest to the paper in value is number 10 or the lightest. There is still a noticeable contrast between the paper and number 2. The difference between the paper and the other values is clearly very different from number 1. Black has the most contrast.

 

 

Now, let's look at the scale on brown below. When you squint your eyes, you can see that the brown disappears with value 2 (top row, 2nd from the right). The brown looks lighter compared to 1 or black. The brown looks darker compared to #3. So, this is a very dark value #2 brown.

 

 

This all sounds easy but wait. It is not as easy to discern on bright colors. Saturated color can make this more difficult. Let's look at blue. I put the scale from white to black in a row. Squint your eyes. Can you see that the blue is darker than values 10 down to 6? I can see that it is lighter than 3, 2, and 1. It is more difficult to see the blue in the 4 and 5 holes. Sometimes it is that way. It feels like a value is in between. Do you see how intensity of color can throw off your perception of value? This blue is a bit darker than I might have thought without the gray scale.

 

 

The gray scale and value finder can also be used when painting from life. It all requires practice and I believe it is a life long journey. Well, I hope this was helpful.

 

You can see my work and sign up for my newsletter at www.sueflanagan.com. Here is "Hidden Tropical Beauty" in color and in gray scale.

 

 

Happy painting!

Sue Flanagan