One of a series using simple compositions to practice value separation of shapes, and color to indicate depth. Learning to arrange the various shapes in a painting so as to make a clear value interpretation of a scene is the biggest help in choosing "right color".
Value must come before color, because above everything else it makes order out of the scene we want to represent. I work with a range of nine values, #1 is the lightest possible light, #9 is the darkest possible dark. The painting is blocked in using only values #2 through #8. This way I can reserve the high-lights and darkest darks to place the accents as I'm finishing the painting. With the values worked out, first, I can then select hues with confidence. Almost any color will work if it's value is correct. In this painting I have intentionally selected the warmest, most high chroma colors for the foreground, and the color becomes cooler and grayer as it moves into the distance.
EARLY SUMMER
©Jimmy Longacre 2017
12x16 oil on canvas panel
Jimmy Longacre
subjective realist landscape paintings
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