Light Shape in Dark, Dark Shape in Light

Demonstrations of light shapes in dark, and dark shapes in light.

Awhile ago we did these in my classes.  I love little house shapes.  They're fun to move around the composition and play with the values.

The lightest light against the darkest dark  is the focal point  -  whether it wants to be or not.  Also the pointed shape of the gable end draws our attention.

With a large brush, these little paintings quickly give you what you need to know for a larger, more serious painting. You've worked out a simple composition, a value pattern, and a harmonious color scheme.  If one or more of these elements didn't work out for you, you probably have, at that point, a pretty good idea of what might have gone wrong.  With your large brush you just do another little painting until you get what you want.

We lost a lot of leaves overnight  -  it's beginning to look like winter.  Today we had sunshine and the trees with their red or yellow leaves still hanging on were beautiful. The trees have been slower to drop their leaves this year  -  the city has even delayed the leaf pick-up to an, as yet, undetermined date.  This is big deal stuff, huh?  Day three of Blogging Everyday in November!