When Fall Colors Turn Values Topsy-Turvy!
October 3, 2009
Morning Catskill Valley by George Inness
I really had to laugh the other day because a friend on Facebook invited me to participate in “the First Annual Autumn Arts Painting Challenge and Competition”. It’s not that I didn’t appreciate the offer but I live in Florida. My autumn paintings will look like my summer paintings, which look like my spring paintings. In west central Florida the trees don’t change much. Basically we have 8-9 months of summer, 2-3 months of spring and 2 weeks of wintumn. Wintumn is a word I made up that is sort of an autumn-winter hybrid. It’s usually in February and may include some cold weather. In fact, it could get down into the 30’s a couple of nights. It’s also the time of year when the humidity and most of the leaves drop. Then, poof, as quickly as wintumn arrives it goes. The trees bloom and it’s spring. Don’t get me wrong, I love Florida but I miss the change of seasons including fall colors, apple picking and snow on the ground. I don’t think I’ll get to visit fall colors this year but Penny and I are committed to seeing some snow. We’ll shake the cobwebs off our snowboards in Colorado.
But enough about me…a lot of you live where fall colors delight the soul. Out west the cottonwoods and aspens are in all of their glory. Back east and in the Midwest the maples and oaks are approaching that autumn splendor. Since so many of you are heading out to paint those beautiful colors this is a great time to talk about how fall colors effect our basic model of the Four Value Planes.
Passing Clouds by George Inness
In fall and sometimes even in early spring the local color of trees may become a faded yellow orange or a pale yellowish green. In both instances they can appear to be lighter than the ground and/or slanted planes. This phenomenon may also occur when cloud shadows cover the ground plane. According to Carlson they “persevere” as upright planes because the masses are still darkly accented. These “dark accents” will be found near the core or center of the mass. Notice how Inness maintained them in his light tree masses. Maintain them in yours and the apparent reversal of the 4 Value Planes will read properly.
Next week I will be participating in a plein air event in Switzerland….Florida that is. That’s about a 3 hour and 45 minute drive. The event is called Painting the Region – The Bartram Trail. It takes place at Alpine Groves County Park in Switzerland, Florida from Oct. 6-10. For details and directions to the event visit paintingtheregion.com
Both Inness paintings are courtesy of the Art Renewal Center.
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