[Tom Edgerton]

I have to agree with Peggy.

Saying that any of these factors--drawing (position, shape), value, color--are more important than the other is assigning qualitative "value" (value in a different sense) to factors that are essentially neutral. They all interact and support each other. Beyond that, saying that seeing and translating as a whole, vs. considering each factor independently, is a pointless discussion. The key is to find whatever verbal or intuitive construct that works for you. Painting while simultaneously asking oneself,"Am I seeing these things holistically or as separate factors?" is like playing a good game of tennis and simultaneously thinking, "I am playing a good game of tennis." Who cares what's going on in there, if it works for you?

And I also have found that beginning painters seem to get "value" better if it's broken out separately, because most of them come into painting so preoccupied with hue and chroma to the exclusion of all else.

I will reveal my own bias, though, and reiterate what Ray Kinstler has always said: a color isn't right until its value is right. And my own experience mirrors Peggy's--if the colors sing but the values (the mechanics for describing light) are squirrely, the realistic effect and overall cohesion are pretty drastically undermined.