As both a colorist and an instructor who teaches color, I spend a lot of time thinking about what makes the colors work in the paintings I look at. How did the painter accomplish that? What color strategy or system did the landscape painter use to create beautiful light, beautiful color?
In a recent workshop I taught, we compared the “color-priority” system first used by the Impressionists to the “value-priority” approach of their predecessors. In many ways, the 150-year-old color-priority system of the Impressionists still defines the way contemporary landscape painters approach color.
Of course, we think of Impressionism as being all about color. And to a large extent, it is. But value also plays a key role in how color is expressed. Any color can be defined in terms of its hue, the basic family to which it belongs, such as blue, red, green, etc.; its saturation level (also called chroma or intensity); and its value, how dark or light the color is.
Color never works in isolation. Any color, whether it’s cool or warm, fully saturated or grayed out (neutralized), is also a particular value. And that value affects the degree to which that color can express its color identity.
Any landscape painter, whether they want to paint like an Impressionist or not, can benefit by understanding this dynamic relationship between color and value.
How value affects chromatic identity
In this 10-step value chart, colors on the left are very light in value, nearly white. Colors on the right are very dark in value, nearly black. If you squint at the chart, the colors in the mid range (around 4 to 7) seem to hold more “color.” The colors on the flanks hold much less color identity, so they are less able to act as color. A color’s chromatic identity is most evident when its value is neither too dark nor too light, but when it is in the mid-value range.
Value-priority
Mitchell Albala, The Way Home, Study in Grays, oil on paper, 7 x 7 inches.
In a value-priority system, the drama of light and the effects of light and shadow are achieved primarily through strong value contrasts. We see this in the Dutch landscapists of the 17th century, many of the Hudson River Painters, and the Barbizon painters who preceded the Impressionists. In this study, I imposed stronger value contrasts than I typically do, which creates a moody and dramatic effect. The color is secondary to value contrast, but still plays a role: the pale pinks and grayed out azure blues in the top half create a beautifully subtle effect. If we compare the color version on the left to the black-and-white conversion (especially when we squint), we see that the difference between the two isn’t that noticeable. The black-and-white version can stand on its own.
Color-priority
Mitchell Albala, The Way Home, Study in Yellow and Phthalo, oil on paper, 7 x 7 inches.
In the color-priorty approach, reduced tonal range (fewer extremes of dark and light) allows the chromatic identity of the color to come out more. When this is combined with purer, more saturated color, then color begins to serve as a stand-in for the for brilliance and luminosity of natural light. In this study, much more is lost in the conversion to black-and-white than in the value-priority example above. The black-and-white conversion has little contrast and appears washed out. That’s because most of what makes the painting “work” are color contrasts, not value contrasts.
Mitchell Albala, Color-priorty palette knife study, 2018.
Blending priorities
Is one of the approaches more “realistic” than the other? No. All color strategies are “lies that tell a truth.” We don’t see nature in the dark neutral grays of the value-priority system, nor do we see nature with as many saturated colors as we find in the color-priority approach. We see more of a combination of the two. However, color-priority does align itself more closely with our modern sensibilities. After all, we are looking at landscape painting through the lens of 150 years of Impressionism.
Of course, color- and value-priority are not an either/or proposition. The takeaway is not that you have to choose one or the other, but to realize how the value of a color will affect its color identity. Some painters today work in a strict value-priority style. Some work in a contemporary Impressionist style. But most work with a blend of color-priority and value-priority.
9 Comments
Hi Mitch,
I appreciate your blogs, as usual you have given me more to think about. It has been a few years since I made my way to the US to take your course in Coupeville but still appreciate what you taught me, and how you challenged me to think differently. It has influenced how I think about value and colour. I often find that when I take workshops ( even by some of the “big names” that make their way up to Canada) I don’t get much feedback from the instructors. It is obvious that I’ve painted for a while, but I am taking a class in order to be challenged and to think in a different way. I try to be open to that, but find that they are reluctant to say much to me. Yet you pushed me, a sign of a fantastic teacher. I’ve been working on limiting the value range in my work in order to highlight the colour contrasts so the topic of your blog is very timely.
If you ever want to come up to Canada to do a bit of teaching I can set up the venue for you. I know it would sell out. Let me know if you are interested.
Regards,
Alice
As always, your writing straight forward, clear and instructive. One could ask no more from a good teacher.
Thanks, Matt, for the kind words. Glad you are enjoying the blog!
Thank you Mitch for sharing your teaching methods about mid value color. I appreciate how you are able to express these concepts in a succinct manner. I hope you are well!
Thanks, Alice, for the kind words. It’s good to hear that the work we did has stuck with you after all these years! Carry on!
Once again, excellent words to describe the mind boggling effects of colour and value. “Priorities” — Yes. Both matter in painting and it’s good to be aware of them,choosing to prioritize one over the other … as for me, I’ll stick with colour and hopefully make it sing while not disregard the value pattern altogether. Balancing these are the tricky parts. I’ve been implementing what you taught in class and being much more conscious of colour, but also letting it have its unconventional say ;). BTW, I love the abstracted study of colour and value priorities combined, yet balanced. Thanks, Jane
I agree with Jane, Mitch… I also love the abstracted study of color and value priorities combined. It is much more exciting than the others. Why is that? Thanks for such an informative blog. I always come away with something new to think about. – Joan
Glad you are receiving and absorbing the blog posts, Jane. Yes, you would be a color-priority painter, for sure! 🙂 Carry on!
That’s a good question, Joan. I think it’s largely a matter of taste and preference. (And that it’s a lovely study!). For example, I showed a friend the color-priority and the value-prioty versions of The Way Home and she much preferred the value-priority. Value-priority tends to use many neutral colors, which can make a painting look more naturalistic or realistic. That she liked the value-priority version told me that she likes paintings that have the more realistic flavor. You, with your expressive use of pastel and bold color, naturally prefers the color-priority solutions.