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Mid-April in New England always makes me think of that TS Eliot line:  “April is the cruelest month.”  And no—not because of taxes, but because the tired, beaten, bedraggled winter landscape is still lying lazily asleep.  Often it hits the snooze button two or three times (this year with an April Fool’s day snowstorm) and we have to wait another few weeks before the world awakens into a burst of color.

That seems to have happened in my world today, just in time for Easter:  the forsythia is in bloom, and the crocuses are out.  For those of us who live to be inspired by a colorful landscape, spring is a tough season, and therefore I was thrilled to teach two workshops—on color no less—in New York City and Maryland in the past few weeks.  When starved for color, figuring out how to make the most of my pastels (and helping others to do the same) is a great antidote. 

We discovered many things in our days together—the power of neutrals, the way temperature conveys light and shadow.  But the primary lesson, and one to which I return with fascination over and over, is the power of value over color.

Do your colors need a wake-up call?  Try this exercise. 

1. Create a chart with 4 columns, 5 rows.  In the first column, choose 5 neutral pastels, one in each of 5 values:  light, mid-light, midtone, mid-dark, and dark.  Try to make the value jumps as even as possible
2. In each row, fill in the remaining 3 squares with colors from your box that match the value of the first (neutral) square.  These colors should be a wide variety—bright, dull, all different colors.  Reserve the colors for an exercise.
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4. To test the value of your colors, create value strips with each neutral and make a small mark on the strip you are trying to match.  Squint.  If the color disappears (or nearly so) it is the same value.
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6. Once you have a complete chart, you will do a painting using the colors: Use a black and white reference photo,  do a thumbnail sketch to analyze values. 
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8. Create your painting on grey Canson, referring to the value sketch, and layering colors in the correct value to create interesting color combinations.

It is virtually always more important to use the correct value in an area than to use the correct color.  This idea, once considered, is so freeing that it opens up one’s use of colors exponentially. 

My hope is that , if you are a painter, you will never again fret over not having the right color (you surely have something in the right value.) 

If you are an art lover, my hope is that you look a little more closely at how your favorite work is constructed, notice the different pieces of color, how they interact to create the effect of form, light, texture.  Delight in the artist’s inventive use of color, and notice unexpected colors in the real world.  

Spring Fireworks 6 x 12