Sunday, August 2, 2009

Pink Ballet shoe, 7x5, 8/2/09 SOLD

The key to getting something like this right is correct value.   I know I'm always talking about value to my students but I think it is important if you want to capture  the the essence of your subject.   The shoe is pink but in many places it has a lot of grey or blue.   In fact there are places where it is not pink at all.   The inside is luminous because of the light source coming through.   The inside of the shoe is actually a muslin color but when painting you have to forget what you "know it is" and paint what you "see".    The value even fools me sometimes.   I have these "value finders" that I made from gel sheets. (I sell them for $5 each)  There are 3 of them, red, green and cobalt blue.    The blue one shows you how much white is in what you are looking at and shows you instantly where the lightest lights are.   The red  and green are helpful in showing if you have the right amount of the opposite color in it to grey it out.