Anjelique

[Steven Sweeney]

Chuck,

Questions aren

[Chuck Yokota]

Steven,

Thanks again. The links to the other threads helped me to understand better what you are recommending I do. Now I am scratching my head (no, not fleas, puzzlement) wondering what would be appropriate objects to paint in the black-and-white studies. I'm thinking they should be objects where there would be value changes due to shading rather than from differences between different areas of the object. Also I think I shouldn't use reflective or translucent objects, to keep out extra variables. A look around my apartment didn't turn up any likely candidates, with a good range of values.

Also I'll need to do something about the lighting. Right now my "studio" is the dining nook of my apartment, and the small size and reflective walls minimize shadows. Maybe I can have a lamp shining in through the doorway.

Sorry if I sound obsessive about this. It is important to me to improve, but writing things out seems to make a big deal out of things that would be settled in a moment in person, and I'm mostly thinking out loud.

[Michele Rushworth]

Here's an exercise I just gave the students in the painting class I teach:

Buy a few oranges. Set them up in a pile with one source of light. (Maybe you could paint at night, Chuck, to minimize the ambient light, and point a desk lamp at them.)

Then do many monochrome studies of them.

After you master that, do color studies of them. Look for all the many subtle variations of orange you will find.

Another monochrome exercise (often suggested by a terrific artist on this forum named Sharon Knettel) is to do a monochrome copy of Vermeer's painting "Girl with a Pearl Earring." You can find it on the web all over the place. Print it out as large as you can in black and white.

Good luck and have fun!

[Chuck Yokota]

Michele,

Thanks for the suggestions. I'll try them out.