Today, I choose a subject where I could exercise some control, subtlety. In the water, I focused on slight shifts in warm/cool colors.
“Simple Seascape”, Oil on Linen, 8×10
A good way to judge whether your values are correct, is to look at your painting in greyscale, as shown below. This “reads” well in black/white, so I feel the values are on target:
I’ve also started looking at my pieces in greyscale. It’s pretty revealing.
I love this piece. The colours are perfect. Looking at it I really feel as if I’m sitting by the sea, on one of those beautiful evenings when the light is really special. It makes me realise that a painting can speak to someone on the other side of the world if you take the ‘place’ out of work and leave the essence that everyone can relate to.