VALUE PATTERNS: 3-D Space or The Illusion of Depth

Last Thursday and Monday the class worked on paintings with the objective of creating a three-dimensional sense of space. Students addressed and employed the Distal Cues to varying degrees. Jessica has created a beautifully crafted painting of a couple exiting a room and entering a deep, open landscape. The values and shapes are bold and well defined. She has skillfully balanced organic shapes against the stability of the vertical and horizontal shapes constructing the architecture.

Kimberly has very effectively used value to create very stark and dramatic lighting conditions. The image is reminiscent of a snow covered landscape illuminated by a crisp winter moon. The values are rich and clearly defined. She too has used the Distal Cues with great effect.

VALUE: Deep Space

Brian Watts

Yesterday students finished up their shallow space compositions and started a deep space or 3-dimensional space painting.  Unlike 2-dimensional or shallow space which concentrates on the surface, the elements within a deep space will appear to recede into the picture plane. Stronger contrasts in value will yield a deeper sense of space. In Brian's painting above, depth is achieved by the use of a gradation in the background as well as the size change of the cubes (bigger in the foreground, smaller in the background). Students will have the first hour of class to finish their paintings before the critique and we move onto COLOR.