Color Studies in Value

Monochromatic - 8x10 - Acrylic - Sloss Furnace

Analogous  - 8x10 - Acrylic - Sloss Furnace

Tetriad - 8x10 - Acrylic - Sloss Furnace

Photo Shop Photo of Values - 8x10 - Sloss Furnace

This exercise was a color scheme project.   In class we just finished doing stamp designs in dozens of color schemes and compositions.   Our task for this project was to take a photo and photo shop to limit values and crop to create simplified composition.    I chose the Sloss Furnace photo.   The most successful I felt was the Grey Monochromatic.   A grey (white & black only) scheme clearly defined the shapes and mood of the composition.    The Analogous (orange, yellow orange, red orange and red) remained defined and also I feel worked with the composition.   The Tetriad (violet, blue, orange, yellow) I felt didn't work.   Probably because they are equally spaced on the color wheel and because of that the colors are either dark or bright.   There was to much contrast.     The photo shop print was used and simplified to limit the shapes.     Because the goal was to trace exactly the shapes and identify a limit of four values, it helped the eye focus only more successfully.   In classes the instructor frequently talks about "squinting" to limited the amount of light in the eye to capture the basic shapes and values but that has never helped me much.   I have had instructors suggest printing off a black and white photo as a tool to identify basic composition shapes and values but this takes it a step further.   A great tool for painting.   

My first semester is a little over half completed.   Next semester I've signed up for drawing.   Wish I could just step out of time and go live on campus and just take classes.   It is consuming but I love it!