As I continue to work on the “beach house” series
I’ve been exploring the use of value
to move the eye around a painting.
In this painting I wanted the viewer to land on the
door so I gave that area the highest value contrast.
(darkest dark against the lightest light)
Blue Door 10 x 10 acrylic
Below is the original that wasn’t working,
until I realized all the darks areas were competing with each other.
So I lightened the areas where I didn’t want the viewer to stay.
I’ve always been prone to exaggerate my values;
making the darks darker and the lights lighter
throughtout the entire painting.
Now I’m realizing that you can create more interest
( and therefore better paintings)
by controlling where you do that.