Value is how light or dark a color appears to be and that includes white. In my current pastel class at the Center in Palos, we are concentrating on a very important art principle and that is value. I put a white cup on a black surface with a gray background and a single strong light source from the side and asked the students to paint this in shades of gray.

Of course, the tendency would be to pick up a white pastel for the white coffee cup. However, this was really an experience of gray tones. The cup was actually darker than the background of gray poster board. Only the highlight would be white and that is why this was difficult for many. Even the black surface could not be totally black because the cast shadow was darker than the black paper the cup was on. I wasn't trying to trick anyone, but I did want them to see value in shades of gray. It becomes even more difficult when you add color or hue.

The students who have had my class before were given a similar exercise only the white cup was on a red napkin and there was a green circular logo on the front. In this case, I wanted them to see that white was not white but shades of pink because of the reflected light from the napkin . The green circle was at least three different greens because some of it was in direct light and some going into the shadow.

I think everyone found this to be a valuable warm up exercise.

My classes start with a half hour instructional warm up exercise and then the students take a break. After the break they usually start work on their own paintings but sometimes they decide to continue with the warm up. I want the class to paint from life and not just photos. Photos are very limited but that is another subject.