Values

Working chromatically can help you understand the value structure of your painting. Without the enticement (and distraction of color) you can see the range and pattern values of the dark and light. If you are up and about in the night (can’t sleep at 3 AM?),  it’s a perfect time to look at your work in dim light or in moonlight. When the rod cells in your eyes are active, you will be able to see monochromatically.

October 26 – January 20
David Hockney: A Bigger Exhibit
at the De Young Museum in Golden Gate Park
http://hockney.famsf.org/

He uses multiple canvases so that he can work BIG:

and he makes composites of hundreds of photographs:

This week the familiar adage do as I say not as I do is particularly apt.
Yes, I do go on and on about the lessons and the important of discipline and practice and then I throw it all up in the air and say that I don’t  always abide by my own teachings. YIKES!!!

As you might have discovered I am not a strict watercolorist.  I do not necessarily go by the rules but, I do believe it is important to know them. If you practice, practice, practice the techniques they will become second nature—then your ability to render what you have in mind will just flow…