This week’s Threads skills workshop inspired me to work a bit more on value to paint form. I laid out my palette with a value scale, in this case of 7 values from white to black. The sphere and cylinder can be convincingly portrayed using these values.

Value Sphere
Value Cylinder

Once I became enthralled with classical drawing and learning just a bit from the Brague drawings, I was determined to look into other lessons to gain by studying some classical painting technique.

Much of the traditional ways artists were trained was nearly lost by the mid 20th century as Expressionism and Abstraction led the way in art schools. Since the 1990s smaller art academies have been resurrecting some of the older methods. Ateliers dedicated to teaching the classical teaching modes have been springing up around the globe.

One is headed by Juliette Aristides, the Aristides Classical Atelier at the Gage Academy of Art in Seattle Washington. She has also published two volumes: Lessons in Classical Drawing and Lessons in Classical Painting.

In order to produce realistic art on a two dimensional canvas, one must find a way to show the third dimension. Accurately depicting the way light plays across the form is the way to accomplish this feat.