BOBBI HEATH PAINTINGS
  • Home
  • Shop
    • Available Paintings
    • Selected Favorites
    • Note Cards
    • How to Buy a Painting
    • Your Own Custom Painting
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Classes
    • Classes Login
    • Values Download
    • Classes and Workshops
    • What's It Like to Study With Bobbi
    • Materials Lists
  • Resources
    • Beginning Painting Tips
    • Managing Multiple Projects
    • Framing
    • Your First Plein Air
    • Notes - Confident Drawing
    • Videos
  • About Bobbi
  • Contact

LESSON 5 - Page 2 - Painting the Value Underpainting

Exercise 3 - Paint the Landscape in Monochrome To Create a Value Underpainting

You will need:
- a panel
- a value scale (either the one you made or the one you bought)
- your burnt sienna and blue paints
- one or two #6 brushes
- your palette
- your knife
- clean and dirty Gamsol
​- paper towels

The Progression:
- We start with the darkest darks, the vertical shaded side of the marsh mud on the bottom left.
- Next, we move on to the next lightest value, the trees and their reflections.
- Next come the surface of the marsh grass and water on the bottom right.

- And finally the lightest value, in this case, the sky.

Watch the Video - And stop after I paint each value, and paint that value yourself. Then move down the list.
​


This is my value underpainting of the marsh. I mixed ultramarine blue with the burnt sienna for the two darkest values, though it's hard to see that in the trees and reflections (but it's there!).

Note that I had to do this twice to get what I wanted, so don't be discouraged if it doesn't go perfectly the first time. You can wipe off, or add paint. I only had to start over because of the recording.


Picture

​Exercise 4 - Making Paint Colors Lighter and Darker
Remember in the previous lesson, where I went over the options for making each color lighter and darker? In this exercise you can do that for yourself. I promise it will stick better if you do the exercise! And it's going to help you a lot with our final lesson.

Watch the Video - And stop and fill in your own squares after I complete the row for each color. You may use a knife or a brush, it will go faster with the knife, but it will work just fine either way.



​This is my finished exercise.

Note that I fixed a couple of things I did in the video.

- I added the X for lightening blue with a neighbor.

- For darkening yellow with a neighbor, I removed the mixture where I went on to add blue, since that is the same as mixing with the complement. If you compare the two columns for darkening yellow, you can see the difference.



Picture

Notes From Lesson 5​
- To make your value underpainting, start painting with the darkest darks, and continue one value at a time until you reach the lightest lights. In a landscape this will usually be the sky.
- Make your  burnt sienna darker by adding just a bit of ultramarine blue.
- This "value map" will make the next step (painting with color)  a lot easier, because we can paint over the map with the colors.
​
In preparation for the next lesson:
​- There are often two potential ways to make a color lighter, and one can be brighter than the other. When you are painting with color, consider both approaches and choose the one that works best in your current situation.
​- There are often two potential ways to make a color darker, and one can be brighter than the other. When you are painting with color, consider both approaches and choose the one that works best in your current situation.
​
​<  Lesson 5 Page 1                                                                                                                                                   Lesson 6 Page 1 >
  • Home
  • Shop
    • Available Paintings
    • Selected Favorites
    • Note Cards
    • How to Buy a Painting
    • Your Own Custom Painting
  • Blog
  • Events
  • Classes
    • Classes Login
    • Values Download
    • Classes and Workshops
    • What's It Like to Study With Bobbi
    • Materials Lists
  • Resources
    • Beginning Painting Tips
    • Managing Multiple Projects
    • Framing
    • Your First Plein Air
    • Notes - Confident Drawing
    • Videos
  • About Bobbi
  • Contact