Thursday, February 25, 2010

5-Value Head Study, Female

5-Value Head Studyby David R. Darrow
6" x 6" (15.2cm x 15.2cm)
Oil on Panel

SOLD
Collection of Linda Reynolds
Tampa, FL – USA

About This Painting

The following may only be interesting to other artists. It's a long-held principle that a good portrait has a reduced set of values. Five values is common among the great painters, especially seen in the work of John Singer Sargent.

I decided to give it a try, and I started by mixing 5 equally-spaced values using a mixing knife and two tubes of oil paint: raw umber and titanium white.

I quickly painted this head study starting with my darkest dark, then filled in the rest where appropriate.

Two values for shadow, and 3 values for the lights.  ◙

To subscribe to my free "Art In Your InBox" Newsletter, just click here.
at

3 comments:

  1. Unknown5:01 AM, February 26, 2010

    Wow , Love the results with just two colours x 5 colour values.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Sven12:03 PM, February 26, 2010

    David- just discovered your blog. Your last two pieces are very strong. Love the black and white one.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ishrath5:07 AM, May 02, 2011

    Isnt this your header image?

    A very beautiful and stunning work of art. Hope that you make more of these and share. Would love to see.

    ReplyDelete

Including links that are not supportive of the content of the post will likely get your comment removed. Spamming will be deleted and reported.