What Makes an Effective Value Thumbnail

'Down in the Meadow'           9x12         pastel        ©Karen Margulis
available $145

Do you do your thumbnails? I never did a very good job at doing thumbnail sketches. They seemed like a waste of my time. I would rather just get to the fun part and paint. But I like to play when I paint. I don't want to think to hard. I don't want to agonize of every stroke, color and value choice.

A thumbnail a day makes it easier to play!

That's right. Doing a thumbnail makes it easier to let go and paint with passion and still have success. But the thumbnail has to be effective. It really isn't enough to scribble some lines and call it a thumbnail. Nor is it necessary to spend a lot of time on a painstaking mini sketch full of details. There is a happy medium and it really will help. Below I share some tips for a more effective thumbnail. One you can actually use to start your painting.

The reference photo

 In the photo below I am showing two thumbnails. These are Value Thumbnails using just 4 values....a dark, light and middle light and middle dark. The thumbnail on the left is not as useful as the one on the right. Why?

The difference between an ineffective value thumbnail and a useful thumbnail

• A value thumbnail is best when the subject is simplified into 4-6 big simple shapes. The shapes should be connected or massed and assigned a value. The value should be what is MOST prevalent in the shape....example: a group of trees may have several values but has more darks than anything else so this mass of trees would be assigned a dark value. The trees will be modified as the painting develops.

• A value thumbnail is more effective when it is small (between business card and post card size) and when you can see the borders of the sketch.

• A value thumbnail works best when the shapes are massed in with solid flat marks. Scribbly loose marks make it difficult to see the values.

If you would like to see a step by step demo of this tree painting head on over to my Patreon page. We are studying value all month and you can join us for just $4. www.patreon.com/karenmargulis

The Value of Value Thumbnails

'The Music of the Marsh'         8x10        pastel       ©Karen Margulis
available $145

 It was my first painting of 2018 and I decided to return to the marsh.....one of my favorite subjects to paint. As I looked at my selected reference photo I was ready to jump right in but then I reminded myself of the value and importance of doing a quick value thumbnail. With a strong thumbnail I will be able to paint this marsh with more expression and allow my intuition to take over....in other words a value thumbnail will help me get into the 'zone' and that is where the fun begins!

I never really liked doing thumbnails. I felt like they slowed me down and killed the spontaneity. But that is because I wasn't doing them in the most effective way. I was doing small detailed sketches. They were nice in their  own way but they were just nice sketches. The may have helped me somewhat with composition but ultimately they were set aside and quickly forgotten once the painting began.

Using a value thumbnail to start my painting

 Now I am am a firm believer in the value of doing value thumbnails. That is because now I actually USE them to start my paintings.

• They are not small sketches rather they are value MAPS. I simplify my subject into a few big shapes and assigned each shape a value. 
• I use a limited value range of 2 to 4 values. (2 values is know as a Notan)
• I use value markers or any tool that allows me to get solid coverage. 
•  I use these maps to help me block in the  painting. 
• This is my foundation. I can now let go and play and build my painting on this strong foundation.

My favorite tools for thumbnails

For today's marsh painting I chose a four value block in using different values of yellow. I wanted the yellow glow under the green grasses and in the sky. I used a piece of 400 grade Uart paper and Terry Ludwig pastels. I am planning to reuse this thumbnail to create a series of marsh paintings. Stay tuned for more!

What's happening on Patreon? 
We are spending the month exploring VALUE over on my patreon page. If you would like detailed instructions for doing these value thumbnails you can check out the page for $4. It is a monthly subscription but you can cancel at any time. www.patreon.com/karenmargulis

A Tip for More Painterly Paintings

'Meadow Walk'        8x10        pastel        ©Karen Margulis
available $145

I surprised myself this weekend. I started a new sketchbook devoted to value studies. That's not the surprise! What surprised me was how much time I took to do just four small value studies with graphite. I didn't mind at all. In fact I thoroughly enjoyed taking my time developing these little sketches. 

I used a Sketch n Wash pencil by General. It allowed me to create graphite washes. That was fun!

I started with a middle value wash and tweaked and darkened some areas while removing some areas with water. I used my small reference photos for these studies. I had such a relaxing time working on these sketches and the result.....a more painterly painting!

TIP:  Paint without a reference photo using only a small value study as your inspiration.

Small value sketches done with a Sketch and Wash pencil

 Spending time doing a value study allows you to get to know your subject. You work out the composition and the value map. When it comes time to actually paint all you need to do is decide on a color palette.

Working from a value study gives you all the information you need. It gives you the freedom to paint with passion and expression. You remember only the important details. You don't get bogged down with the unessential. You give your memory and imagination free reign to create a painting that expresses how you FEEL about the subject. Try it!

I am going to try to do at least one black and white value study in this sketchbook every day. This discipline will help me be more interpretive with my subjects.

My Process: Blocked in the big shapes with a Masters Shadow Stix

Wet with water

Added some color in the first layer

Finished!

My Top Tip for Exciting Color

'Drama in the Afternoon II'          9x12         pastel        ©Karen Margulis
available $150

 It's fun to play with color. I've been sharing my studies based upon color scheme experiments. Working with the color wheel and color schemes opens up the wonderful world of color to us and gives us tools to move away from local expected color. But how do we make these color schemes work? It isn't enough to choose the colors and throw them on the paper. Where does each color in the scheme go? It is very simple.

It's all about Value. Value is the key to success with color.

You've probably heard the saying the VALUE does all the work but COLOR gets the glory. Commit it to memory. If you create a strong map of values....dark shapes, light shapes and middle value shapes. All you need to do is follow the map with the appropriate value pastel. Trees can be green or fuchsia but as long as the value is correct it will look like a tree.

Demo painting form my Florida workshop

Value allowed me to experiment with color in these two paintings. I started both with a two value (notan) underpainting of black and white. I was able to follow this map with dark and light value pastels. I tried a different set of colors for the painting at the top of the page. The result was a completely different mood. Value doing the work!

Another Good Reason for Using Bad Photos

'Oldtimers'               11x14               pastel            ©Karen Margulis
sold

Color gets all the glory. When color in a painting is working we are intrigued. Color can draw us to a painting but it the value that keeps it all together.  The well know quote that Value does all the work but Color gets the glory is a good  one to remember.

I love to play with color. One of my favorite painting games is to take a scene and see how many ways I can interpret it through color changes.  This is where bad reference photos help. When the photo is over exposed or washed out it is easier to invent the color. I can take a bad photo and use the colors I want as long as I can create a strong value map. If I get the values right I can get away with any color I want. (color harmony is needed but that's another post!)

Today's painting is based on a bad photo. You can see the reference photo above. It is dull and washed out. But I can clearly see the dark mass of the trees against the light of the sky. It is a perfect scene for color play.

I decided I wanted a yellow sky. All I needed to do was follow my value thumbnail and choose the right values for the trees, sky and grasses and the painting should work. Each new color combination will create a different mood. I can't wait to try another one!

painting notes: 11x14 Ersta sanded paper with a dark blue alcohol wash underpainting

How to Paint a Bird with 25 Pastels

'My Snowy Friend'              12 x 12           pastel            ©Karen Margulis
available for $175 in my Etsy Shop

 It might surprise you.  You don't need a box of hundreds of pastels in order to paint. You certainly want them and if you do have hundreds it still is never enough. I admit I am addicted to collecting pastels. But when it comes down to it we really only need a good balance of colors and values.....I could make due with under 100 pastels as long as I have good range.

Even 100 pastels are too many for a single painting.

I choose to work with a limited palette and always take a few minutes to choose my pastels before I start a painting. I typically use no more than 25 pastels for a painting.  How do I decide what colors to pick?  I think VALUE before COLOR.

reference photo and test paper

•  I will be blocking in my Egret by value....darks first, then lights, then middle values so I choose 3-4 pastels in each of four values: dark, middle dark, middle light and light.

• I choose the darks first. I line the pastels in my butcher tray.

• Next I choose 3-4 light values.

•  I choose a few middle values.

• I don't think solely in terms of the local color. I want to layer interesting color. Sometimes I will push it towards the local color and sometimes I don't worry about getting the color accurate. I do want to get the values accurate.

Remember that VALUE does the work but COLOR gets the glory!

Choosing my palette and testing values

 I like to use a test strip of paper (the same as the paper I will use for the painting) to test the pastels I pick. I make little marks side by side to see if the pastels are the same value. If I see a hard edge between the marks than I know they aren't the same value and I choose another one.  If the edge between the marks is soft or disappears then you know the colors are the same value.
The marks have to touch.

25 pastels for the painting

In the picture above you can see my final selection for my egret painting. I used these colors for both the egret and the background. Keeping it simple and limited made for an enjoyable painting session.
12x12 on Uart

Moving Beyond Local Color...with 16 pastels

'Mountain Dreams'           8x10       pastel         ©Karen Margulis sold

OK so this painting isn't very far outside of the box.  The colors I used are still believable and they are colors we might associate with this landscape....green grass and blue sky. But I always try to make more interesting color choices. At the least I want to infuse my subject with touches of unexpected color. I want to make my subjects more interesting with my color choices. How do I approach color?

I remind myself that color gets the glory but it is value that does all the work. If I can get the value masses in the right place and determine the correct values in the subject then I can safely get away with more interesting color choices. It is all about layering color by value.

I may end up with a mostly green tree or meadow....but I use other colors in a similar value to build up to my final color. So the dark areas in the tree and meadow are painted with layers of dark blue, purple, red and then green.  This allows for more exciting dark areas than if I had only used a dark green alone.

Pastels used for today's painting

Today's painting was a demo for a private student. My goal was to help her understand this idea of color by value.  To simplify this concept I chose only 16 pastels. I allowed myself four colors in four values. I started by choosing 4 dark pastels and then chose 4 light values in the same colors. I finished my selection by choosing middle dark and middle light versions of the same colors.  I didn't really concern myself with color temperature (one lesson at a time!)

I was able to finish the painting with only these 16 pastels. It is a believable landscape because I concentrated on trying to get the value shapes correct. I picked colors that would also be believable in this landscape but I could have done the same demo using totally unexpected colors.....hmmmm now there's a great idea! Back to the easel!

Do you ever get overwhelmed by all of the colors in your box?  Try this exercise of choosing 16 pastels by value and see if it helps!

Want to Simplify? Try Notans

'Perry's Water Garden'          8x10         pastel          ©Karen Margulis
available by auction opening bid $50

I am energized by Notans!  I have know about notans for awhile but for some reason I never really used them.  But in preparing for my pastel class yesterday it became clear how useful notans can be.  What is a notan you might ask?  Here is an excerpt from an article on Notan on EmptyEasel.com by Dianne Mize:

"Notan means lightness/darkness and is pronounced just like it looks (no tan). When used in paintings, a Notan drawing is the underlying light and dark structure.
Seeing Notan is the act of identifying patterns of light and dark. A good Notan drawing will simplify the full range of a subject’s values into a black and white design—the white represents areas directly in the light, while the black depicts areas in shadow." Dianne Mize

Doing notans would be perfect for my lesson on simplification! 

An example of a notan (on right) compared to a 'spotty' block-in of darks

The Class topic was how to simplify a complicated subject and how to block in a strong composition with interesting abstract shapes. I always encourage students to do a value thumbnail to work out values/composition but we usually do a 4 value study using Tombow markers. See my blog post on Value studies here.  Four values seems simple enough but sometimes it is challenging to keep cohesive shapes. It is so easy to end up with  a spotty arrangement of lights and darks.  There is a tendency to break up the masses into too many values. I try to look at a shape and decide what value is it MOSTLY made of.....so is that sunlit bush Mostly dark ,middle or light value?  I know I can bring out the variations in value later on in the painting but I try to keep my block-in simple. It isn't always easy.  Notans to the rescue!!

By limiting the value study to just two values...dark or light, white or black, it is much easier to simplify the masses. It's either dark or light. Simple!  Now you can evaluate the design and the shapes without the distractions of color and details.  We tried doing notans in last night's class and everyone's paintings were stronger as a result.  I will be doing them more often!
You can read the entire article by Dianne Mize on Empty Easel HERE

Animal Fur Color Made Simple

'Goldendoodle' 11x14 pastel ©Karen Margulis

Painting available $150 HERE Commissions Welcome

Brown, Black, Tan, Yellow, White ....are all words we use to describe the color of animal fur. When I paint animals I rarely use these colors. I like for my fur to have more life and exciting colors than what we consider the local color. A black cat painted with a black pastel isn't as interesting as a black cat painted with purples and blues. The same thing is true for any of the 'local' colors. Animal fur will reflect the colors in the environment and by incorporating some of these colors you can make the fur more lively and interesting to the eye. Sometimes it is easy to see interesting colors in the coat and of course everyone sees color differently but I have a technique I use for painting animal fur that allows me to introduce unexpected colors into the fur and still have it make sense.

The photo above shows a fur color chart I made. I illustrate how local fur color is actually made up of layers of local color along with some unexpected colors. The key to making it work is VALUE. If you have the value right then layering several colors will make it read correctly.

Let's take the creamy white fur of the Goldendoodle. I'd be tempted to take out my white pastels with some gray for the shadows. Instead, I simply chose 3-4 middle dark colors...peach, green, lavender and layered them in the shadows. I also chose 3-4 light colors that were lighter versions of these middle darks and layered them in the lighter fur. I always make sure to choose one of the colors to be close to the local color of the fur but by layering several colors of the same value, this local color is now much richer and more interesting.

The photo above shows a collection of my small cat pastels. I used the same technique to get the fur color as I did for the dog painting. Just remember the Value does all the work but Color gets the glory. So get the value correct and you can get away with interesting and unexpected color in animal fur.
For a refresher on value you may be interested in my post on value HERE

The mini aceo cat paintings are available on Daily Paintworks auction this week. Click here to see them larger.

Here's a Quick Way to Simplify Your Paintings

'It's a New Day' 8x10 pastel ©Karen Margulis

available by auction at Daily Paintworks here

I love to paint en plein air but I paint mostly from my photos. So I like to find ways to use the photos to create paintings that don't really look like the photos. I find that if I can simplify the photo it is easier for me to change things around and make more interesting compositions and color choices. In yesterday's post I talked about how squinting at my subject or reference photo helps me to see the big simple shapes and values. This is the most handy way to do it. But if you keep your reference photos on your computer you can manipulate them and simplify them before printing them out to paint. You don't need to be a computer whiz or even have photoshop to do this easy trick either. I like to use the free and simple to use program called PICASA.

Photo on bottom was made blurry with the soft focus feature on Picasa
Top photo shows how I drew lines around my big shapes

Picasa is a free download from Google. I have used it for years to organize, manipulate and print my photos. I use it on my PC but there is now a Picasa version for Mac. Since I haven't tried it I found a review of Picasa for Mac here. I like to download my photos to My Pictures and they automatically go to Picasa as well. It is so easy to open Picasa, find a photo and do some simple adjustments. For the photo above I made it black & white (so I could play with color) and then used the soft focus feature to blur the photo. You can blur it as much as you want. I wanted it blurry enough to remove all of the distracting details. Then all you do is click on the print button and you have options for printing. I also like that it is easy to print out multiple photos on one piece of paper.
This blurred version of my photo is perfect to use for value studies and initial block in of my painting. I can't get bogged down too quickly with details if I can't see them! The black and white version is good when you don't want the distractions of color. I did a 2x3 color study (below) to try a different color palette than my original reference photo.

2.5 x 3.5 mini color study

Of course there are many programs that allow you to manipulate your photos. I have photoshop and use it sometimes but I have found Picasa to be such an easy and fun program that I use it most often. So if you are looking for a way to be less fussy with detail, try to blur your reference photos!

How to Simplify Your Paintings for Free

'Time is Golden' 8x10 pastel ©Karen Margulis sold

Are you a Squinter? I am a 'sometimes squinter'. I try to remember to squint when I am painting but it is not as much of a habit as I know it should be. I do know that when I remember to squint I end up with a more successful painting. Why? Because squinting helps me simplify. And squinting is a free tool that goes everywhere with me! I can plan a painting based on strong simple shapes and value patterns because squinting helps me to remove the clutter of details. Take my reference photo for today's painting seen below:

Reference photo (top) with a black & white blurred version (bottom)

My reference photo is quite busy with lots of details and many different values. If I tried to do a value thumbnail or block in my painting with my eyes wide open I might be tempted to but in the details too soon or I might not even come up with a strong design. Now squint at the photo and notice how you can now better see big shapes of darks, lights and middle values? Compare what you see when squinting to my black & white blurry picture which I manipulated with Picasa. It looks the same and squinting doesn't require a computer or printer! So Squinting is an easy and free tool to help you simplify! The picture below shows my initial block in of the painting. It is based on the simple shapes of darks, lights and middle values that I was able to see while squinting.

Block-in of the painting with NuPastels....blended with a piece of pipe foam

There are some excellent tips for squinting in Richard Schmid's book Alla Prima Everything I know About Painting ( a must have book for your art library) Some of the tips include the following:

• Close your eyes down just until things start to blur. If you squint too far down it isn't as effective.
• Squinting is good for judging value. Open your eyes if you want to see color.
• Don't squint at your canvas/paper only squint at your subject.
• Practice squinting. Do it often so it becomes a habit.

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Here's a Great Tool for Seeing Value

'Three Wishes II' 8x10 pastel on home made board

sold

Color step aside and give Value the Glory! You probably have heard it said that value does all the work in a painting but color gets the glory. Color is usually the first thing we are drawn to when looking at a painting. But if the values aren't right and the painting doesn't have a good value structure then the painting may not hold our attention for long. Last week I did several black & white paintings because I wanted to focus on seeing values. By removing the distraction of color I was able to see the big shapes of light & dark. Doing small value studies is also a big help. It is so important to be able to see value but it takes practice. There are some tools to help you and today I want to share a high tech tool....the VALUE VIEWER iPhone App.

'Three Wishes' 5x7 Black & White Pastel

painting available for $75 email for details

If you have an iPhone then you might want to consider this handy app Value Viewer developed by Mark Putnam. Here is a description of the app taken from the website:

ValueViewer is an indespensible tool for artists who paint from life. Whether en plein air or in the studio, ValueViewer will allow the user to take a photo of their subject, view it in greyscale, or posterize it into three values. You may also select an existing image directly from a photo album on your iPhone. There are seven different value levels that will help you "key" your painting correctly, and assist in helping you "see" value, even in the most unforgiving light. The image can be zoomed in and out, and scrolled into position to help you find just the right composition for your painting. Convenient overlays in standard aspect ratios help you crop the image to fit your canvas.

I have the app and it really comes in handy. I sometimes like to work from black & white reference photos so I am not so influenced by the local colors in the scene. I usually convert my photo to B & W and then print it but it is easier to snap a photo of my reference with my iPhone and look at it in B&W with the Value Viewer app. This is just one tool and I have more to share including a very low tech tool in a future post.
How do you see value?