Creative Monday Challenge - Week 29

'The darkest nights produce the brightest stars.'

I consider myself a 'value painter' because I believe that the pattern of lights and darks are the most important part of my compositions. The other six elements are line, shape, direction, size, texture and color and while they are also very important I am always focusing on creating a pattern of darks that dance through my paintings for a strong visual design.

Every painting should have at least three distinct value changes - light, middle and dark. It is sometimes hard to focus on the values because we get sidetracked by the colors and shapes so it can help to look at your painting in black and white. Notice how I have my strongest darks in and around my focal shapes (tulip blossoms) and that they weave their way across the paper to help the viewer's eye travel through the composition.

The Creative Monday Challenge for this week is to make sure that your painting has at least three strong values and to view your finished piece in black and white. You can usually use some kind of photo editor (PicMonkey is free) to delete the color or view it through a red plastic film.

If you are new to Creative Monday I would love to have you join us. You can read more about it and get info on joining the free Facebook Group here.