Fine Art by Silvana Siudut

Wise people usually advise others that the key to success is simplification, let us apply this to how we approach the way we would go about starting a painting.There are a lot of factors involved in choosing a subject to be painted, this in itself is hard work and if this is not enough there is the added stress (especially for beginners) when they realize the colors choices they have to make for the particular composition involved.

The "job" of an artist is to represent what he or she wants to paint - a portrait, a landscape, an idea or emotions by means of lines, form and color. The fact is that for a painter besides the styles or methods of schooling, one must have the knowledge of what color is and how it is used (as symbolism and as an emotional response and much more). This is a definite plus for anyone. There are easy ways to simplify the magnitudes of colors that we see in our everyday life, scientifically there are about 10 million colors that we can perceive, the dictionary alone lists 4,000 names for colors, no wonder we all have our preferences about the colors we choose. To better understand color let's get familiar with the terminology that describes the different aspects of it. We "experience" color through the Hue, Saturation and Brightness.

Hue is another word for color, what we can distinguish from light that comes from the spectrum, is the color itself, the names of colors as we know them, like the color red, blue, green, yellow etc. (A yellow banana, a blue sky, a green ball and so forth)

Saturation - Intensity - Chroma All these terms are basically the same, it is the degree of the hue in the color. Therefore, the hue can be pale, rich weak or strong. Here if we use the color pink as an example, this tells us that it is a red with a low saturation, the almost opposite would be the color scarlet, a hue that has a high saturation of red.

Here we have a chromatic scale, this pertaining to the blue hue.

A painting executed with just one color (varying the shades) would be call monochromatic.

Value - Tone - Brightness refers to color lightness or darkness, it is the visual sensation by which we detect the presence of light or the darkness within the hue.

We can safely state that the hue, saturation and brightness although perceived individually are not independent of one another. When one is changed, it affects the other two.

Adding white is tinting the hue; it is making it lighter.

Adding black or any color darker than white is shading or darkening the hue. Now that this is known about color let's do a simple exercise with the value scale. This is what I refer to when I mentioned simplification. For this exercise you would need a #2 pencil and drawing paper. Most often, what an artist will do is a thumbnail sketch of what is later going to be a painting. Thumbnail sketches are not very big, usually a quick study just to get the feeling for the composition and the value (would this be an effective painting, is it worth going for it?). A thumbnail sketch will tell you a lot. Each hue (color) has numerous values; value most often refers to the range that can be achieved going from white to black and the countless shades of grays in between. The same scale applies to each color except that it is most often called chromatic scale. Let's start our exercise, refer to the photo below, here we have a photo, but you could very well be standing right there for what we are going to do the principle is the same. With the #2 pencil draw at least five 1/2 inch squares numbered one through five.

Keep #1 as white, #5 as black, #3 As medium gray, #2 as light gray, #4 as dark gray, achieve this by applying a lot of pressure from your hand by rubbing the pencil on the paper for #5 and as you work toward #1 apply less and less pressure. Now you have your value scale. (This would be unique to you, it cannot compare to anyone else because it is what you can achieve). Notice the different elements involved with this photo. We have the sky, the water and the rocks. Again referring to the photo try to see what shades of the grays would match the different elements. This is it, for the sky use #2, the water is #4, the rocks #3, reserve #1 for the highlight like on the top of the rocks and # 5 as the darkest would be masses of the rocks everything that is in the shade.

When you choose to do this with your value scale, (you are not bound to use just five values) you can choose to see and work with as many grays as you want but don't overdue it especially for a thumbnail sketch.

Exercises like this are also very good because they teach contrast and almost everyone in the beginning does not emphasize that enough. Just notice the contrast between the sky and the water, it is only two values darker but it could go at least three or more value darker for an effective contrast in the painting. Also it helps to see the masses, not the form of things but what shapes turn into things.What I have used, as an example is a seascape, this method of values applies to all, landscapes, portraiture, floral and wild life. Beautiful renderings have been accomplished with just a value scale. It is in simplifying the color scheme by means of using grays that more interesting work is produced, don�t be afraid to show the contrast in your work. Later you can "translate" the value scale study into actual colors by matching the intensity. There is no need; although the color scheme is so large to try to see all colors, an artist working with a limited palette can make wonders. Colors are very personal, they are what make us unique in our creations and as expected one always leans toward the color that they like best and eventually uses them all the time. But try the value scale and thumbnail sketching if you never have It will show you how to simplify your perception of color and to make it work for you.