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Coffee Pot and Lemon – Munsell value Studies Part Six

July 15, 2007 By: Paul9 Comments

Having had quite enough of cubes and spheres after the last ten studies I dragged out my old coffee pot and a lemon for a few more. This coffee pot has already featured a few times in the series of tonal still life drawings. It’s a good subject for these studies because it presents me with the full range from white across most of it’s surface to black on the handle and lid. I have to do some drastic compression to paint it.

Coffee pot - tone study

This was the first study of a series of six. Originally, there was only going to be this one, but it took me six goes to get what I wanted. It’s often that way in painting land I find.

This one is a bit on the large side for me at 12 X 16 inches. It’s on a fine linen canvas panel made from 12m MDF. After sealing the panel with PVA, the linen is attached with rabbit skin glue. As with most of the panels I’m using at the moment, this one has been given an oil ground, I think Michael Harding’s foundation white oil primer for this one. It takes forever to dry, but the surface is beautiful to work on. I think part of the reason I’ve stopped using mediums is that the surfaces of these panels give such nice handling, they’ve become unnecessary. But never say never.

I was less than happy with this one. It started ok, but lost something in the finishing stages, which went on forever. Which is probably why I’m less than happy with it. I have a feeling that there’s something wrong with the tonal relationships somewhere.

Coffee pot set up

Here’s the set up in the (ahem) studio.

It couldn’t be simpler. There’s a window which goes down to within two feet of the floor and desperately needs a clean directly to the left. It looks like I stood up to paint this one, but I’m often sitting too. It doesn’t seem to make a blind bit of difference which, although people will argue over it. It’s more important to stay as far back from the easel as you can and still be able to touch it with a brush as far as I’m concerned.

The light looks quite blue in this shot, which probably means it was taken early in the morning on a fine day. Come two in the afternoon I have to stop on sunny days, since I get direct sunlight through the window. Although lately I’ve been wondering about trying paint the effect of direct sunlight.

Coffee pot and cubes tone study

This I think was the fifth. The cubes represent the white and black areas of the pot, and are a key to thevalues.

I think it was around this point that it started to occur to me that I could push the tonal balance up into the light end of the scale or down into the darks, expand (as far as paint will allow) or compress it. All that really mattered was that the ratios between the tones were preserved.

I know that might sound a bit, well, dull. And I know I’ve said it before, but through this series of coffee pot studies I’ve begun to understand it on more than just an intellectual level. There’s something physical about putting down the right tone. If the relationship to what’s already there is right, it can feel almost like dragging light across form. I’ve had a couple of mildly odd experiences whilst doing these studies. Mostly it’s just been sweat though, but of the most enjoyable kind.

Coffee pot and lemon tone study

For the sixth and last study I added a lemon. It could almost be a proper painting if it had some colour in it.

I’ve taken some liberties with the values in this one, but always I’ve tried to keep the relationships true. The cast shadows must be darker than the shadow planes of the pot and the lemon. I seemed to have complete freedom with the value of the background. It could have gone much darker than this and still worked I think. But the feeling would have been different.

I’ve also tried to keep up most in my mind, at any given time, the angle of the plane I’m painting to the light. I’ve tried, as far as I can, to stick to four main values for each object: The light plane, the half tone, the shadow plane and the cast shadow.

This is the last one because I got what I was after on this one, a stronger feeling of light. At least, I think I did. The main difference between this one and the first one is that the shadow plane of the coffeepot is darker in this one, so keeping the relationships constant means the other shadow planes getting darker too. More contrast creates a stronger, more focused and more directional effect to the light. Less contrast gives a feeling of more diffuse, all over light.

I’m starting to get a glimpse of the possibilities of tone, of how varying the balance can change the feel of the light. I’m moving further away from what I see all the time, but at the same time closer. Although I’m more free with the tones in the picture, to the extent that I don’t try to match what I see, I’m trying to observe more accurately how the light behaves, and to replicate it as far as I’m able. I want to hit the relationships of any given tone to all the others in the picture as close as I can.

The return of colour (but just a bit…)

A lemon on a white cloth

Some days you just don’t know what’s going to happen. Today was the day I broke my colour fast with a tube of cadmium yellow. And some alizarin, and a bit of burnt sienna.

This study was really a test. I’ve struggled with painting a lemon on a white cloth before, near the beginning when I’d just started painting again, about a year and a half ago now. The first one didn’t even get finished. The second one was little better. I haven’t forgotten the trials that lemon put me through, so this study was a sanity check. I wanted to know, in fact I needed to know, whether or not I could do a better job of it now.

Lemon and white cloth - tone study

Here’s the lemon a couple of hours into the morning, blocked in as I would a neutral study. The colour was painted into the grey, which made it tough to bring it up as much as I wanted to in places.

This is just a simple little study, and there are mistakes in it that I can see now, but for me it bears out what I’ve learned about tone through the last few weeks of neutral studies. There are many little things, but in broad general sweeps I’d say that I’ve learned three main lessons: Firstly, it’s the relationships that matter, not the degree of contrast, and all values in a painting relate to all the others. Secondly, the value of a plane shows it’s angle to the light. Getting the right value makes the plane read correctly and creates form. Thirdly, objects can be simplified down to four main tones, just like a cube. If the light plane, half tone, shadow plane and cast shadow are in the right relationship to each other, then form will appear.

I’m wrapping up this post today with a couple of quotes from ‘Creative Illustration’ by Andrew Loomis:

A certain amount of manipulation of values is possible when we know what we are doing. Our purpose is not always to catch the effect as it is, but rather the most dramatic effect possible.

It is permissible to do anything you wish in paint. Nobody stops you. One can only like or dislike what you do. If you base your pictures on big basic truths and understanding you will do good ones. If you sit and putter with effects, allowing yourself to guess rather than going out to find the truths you want, you will do bad ones.

By painting grey pictures for three weeks, I’ve tried to go out and find some truths about tone. I do think I’ve found one or two. Now, although the tone studies will continue, it’s time to get the colours out again and paint some stuff. As my painter friend Marsha said to me in an email recently, “It’s all in the doing”.

Never a truer word said.

The Munsell Value Studies are posted in six parts:

Part 1: Munsell Value Studies
Part 2: Three Cubes with Munsell Values
Part 3: More Munsell Value Studies
Part 4: Real World Objects with Munsell Values
Part 5: Cubes and Spheres in Ten Munsell Local Values
Part 6: Still Life Paintings with Munsell Values

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About Paul

I'm a (mostly) self-taught artist. I paint realism in oils, mostly still life. I share my work, my evolving process and what knowledge I've gained on my own learning journey here, in the hope that it might help you along on
yours.

Comments

  1. 1

    edward skallberg says

    September 24, 2008 at 1:51 pm

    Fantastic Site, very informative. Eskallberg

    Reply
  2. 2

    H Graham says

    December 5, 2008 at 7:57 pm

    Thank you so much for creating this site! I came across it a couple of days ago and it has been very helpful and encouraging to me. I am an illustrator that wants to improve my skill and have started reading some books by Juliette Aristides on Classical Drawing and Painting. She recommended starting by painting or drawing a sphere in black and white because you know instantly if it is right or not. I had a hard time finding the right type of sphere and went on line to see if I could buy a stone sphere or billiard ball and came across your site. I was impressed by your Munsell studies and have since painted my own spheres and started my value painting today.

    Your work and professional site are beautiful! Best Wishes!

    Reply
  3. 3

    Paul says

    December 5, 2008 at 8:31 pm

    Thanks, I’m glad you’ve found something useful on the site. For what it’s worth, I’m still painting spheres although this is quite an old post now – in fact, I’m working on one now 🙂

    I’ve found them very useful, both for getting a better understanding of relative value and for modelling form. I hope you find them as useful as I have. Feel free to email me to let me know how you gt on.

    Reply
  4. 4

    dee says

    April 8, 2009 at 1:07 pm

    your site is so informative, and breaks the learning down easily. Well done. Will let you know how i get on when i practice all you recommend.
    Dee.

    Reply
  5. 5

    kev ferrara says

    June 3, 2009 at 11:29 pm

    Hi, I really enjoyed reading your efforts to get a handle on tone and the Munsell system and the whole big mystery of translating the tones of reality into the tones of paint.

    Best of luck to you
    Kev

    Reply
  6. 6

    juan camacaro says

    January 19, 2010 at 1:07 am

    hi i´m from venezuela and my english is not so good. this exercise is very good and important to learn how to do. i´m an artist too . ok i write you next time. congratulations..

    Reply
  7. 7

    hjj3 says

    March 13, 2010 at 10:57 pm

    Just diving into Munsell, thanks for the step-by-step practice descriptions.

    Reply
  8. 8

    Glynn Kelly says

    June 28, 2011 at 11:04 am

    one of the best explanations of tone/value I have read.So great to come across such a detailed discussion of problems every artist works with

    Reply
  9. 9

    Paul says

    June 28, 2011 at 9:23 pm

    Hi Glynn,

    Thanks for popping in and commenting. Thanks also for the kind words, that’s praise indeed. I’m really glad you found it useful.

    Reply

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Hi, I’m Paul

I'm a (mostly) self-taught artist. I paint realism in oils, mostly still life. I share my work, my evolving process and what knowledge I've gained on my own learning journey here, in the hope that it might help you on yours.
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