GROUPING VALUES FOR SIMPLICITY (Suggested for Stage Three; Learning)

Andrea Willow paints wonderful intuitive paintings full of color, shapes and narrative. Lately she has been desiring some simplicity in her work. She understands the concept of ‘less is more’ but knows she is more of a ‘more’ person. In this month’s Art Critique Susan Melrath shows Andrea how simply shifting, choosing and grouping values that we already have can dramatically improve the paintings in front of us.

What you will learn:

• How to group values for a stronger composition.
• How to see the values in your work, and also how to simplify them.
• How to use values to move the viewer’s eye around.
• You can still paint how you paint and tell the story you want to tell. Just make decisions about what you really want to show.
• You can keep a lot of things in your paintings if you like, but things can become a secondary read, not the primary.
• To try and get “less is more”, look at how much can you live without. What can get pushed to a different value, or go away completely.
• Turning panels and looking at them from a pure design perspective can help you choose where to place light and dark value. Let the shapes and colors tell you what to do.
• There is a lot of information to guide you in the Academy FAQ Bank.

Click here to download the video transcript.

*Please note that guest presenters are not necessarily Academy members available for commenting.