Lesson 2 Begin with Darker Middle Values for Large Color Areas

Objective:

Begin your flowers with middle-value shapes of color. Establish key value relationships in your paintings early. By using simple blocks of middle values, you set the stage to add lighter, vibrant petal colors on top of those middle-value shapes while maintaining their essential saturation.

Key Concepts:

– Creating a strong middle-value structure as a foundation for brighter flower petals.

– Identifying the light and shadow areas early in the process.

– Understanding how darker values behind lighter values create depth and dimension.

Begin Peonies with Middle-Value Colors

10 Steps to Your Own Peony Masterpiece w/ Fast Motion | Master Oil Painting

Step 4

I quickly dry-brushed a mix of quinacridone red and cad red into each of the flowers, varying the direction of my brush strokes to make the flowers more interesting. The first layer of color is applied with darker middle-shadow values that I can then add brighter, thicker colors on top of.

Step 5

Since values and colors are relative, I like to establish a few value tones with the flowers early on to help judge how dark or light the other areas of the painting should be. I generally reserve the darkest darks and lightest lights for the center of interest, which, in this case, is the two peonies close to one another on the upper left.

That is not a rule—sometimes, the darkest or lightest value might be elsewhere in the painting. Still, I want to ensure that nothing in the painting distracts the viewer from the primary center of interest, which a very dark or light value or strong color can do.

White Roses Also Need Middle Values

7 Steps to Painting Delicate White Roses | Master Oil Painting

Step 2

The flower shapes were left blank on purpose. The white surface of the panel gives the colors a more translucent quality because light bounces off it and brightens them a bit. Now, I realize that much of the panel will be covered by opaque paint, but some of it will not, and that is where the thinner layers of paint benefit from the white underneath.

At this stage, I try to establish the light and dark values in the roses right off while keeping the center colors clean and bright.

I also begin with a middle-value layer that I can later add highlights to. That will help me capture subtle transitions in the petals’ values from shadows to highlights. I do the same thing with the leaves, using darker middle values than I did for the roses.

The spots of reddish-brown background color were left intentionally to create the feeling of distance in the painting and to take advantage of the wonderful red/green harmony.

Step 3

Next, I began to capture the structure of the rose more clearly, with deeper shadows in the center. Once the highlights are added, I will have a wonderful range of values throughout the petals without needing to paint lots of small strokes of color everywhere.