The Value sketches.
The purpose of the Value sketches is to explore alternative layouts that give balance to the composition and highlight the center of interest – the Mill. As I looked at the photo of the Mill I could see that a lot of the work had already been done. Still, I don’t want to be lazy and assume the photo has done all the work for me. So, I still want to go over it, pick out its strong points, note them, and see how I can use them. Then, I’ll see what elements of the picture need to be changed or enhanced.
First, we’ll go over the strong points of the photo as it is.
Without making any changes to the original photo, the Mill already stands out because of the white roof, surrounded by darker forms around it. The bridge itself is dark but the snow on the post tops and on the rails creates a dot and line trail that helps lead the eye directly to the Mill. Even the snow on the waterwheel helps to outline it. The trees on the right side, though they have light valued foliage, have dark limbs, and the dark limbs overpower the lighter value of the foliage.
This is how I see the scene: The large darks of the evergreen tree on the left are picked up by the dark forms of the shrubs along the bank, and also the bridge (as well as the dark forms behind the bridge), carrying the eye toward the right. These dark forms are aided by the white dots and lines on the bridge. The eye moves to the right, where it becomes engaged on the white roof of the Mill. The evergreen tree on the right side, with its dark limbs, helps to frame the Mill, as well as stop the eye from moving off the picture on the right. The large form, as well as the dark tree trunk, balances the dark forms on the left. The white foreground is wedge shaped and narrows down to a point just below the Mill. This also helps to draw the eye in toward the Mill.
I worked up a number of value sketches based on the photo. The first sketch (4A) is fairly simple but gives a good impression of the value pattern: a dark wedge form on the left that points in the direction of the Mill; the dark form on the right stops the eye from moving off the paper; the white roof becomes the focus of attention in between. I left the Mill dark in the first sketch.
In the second sketch (4B) I lightened the side of the Mill. The sunlight is coming from the right, so the far right side of the Mill is in sunlight and would be light in value. The left side of the Mill is facing away from the sunlight and is in shadow, However, I made made that side lighter than the surrounding darks to help it stand out a bit more.
I purposely left the snow in the foreground and the sky the lightest values.
The third value sketch (4C) is similar to the second, just a bit more refined and a little more detailed. I darkened the side of the Mill in shadow and lightened the side in sunlight. I also added some mid tones to the snow. One other addition to the last sketch was the rock formation in the lower left. The darks of the rock as well as the shadows between it and the left side tree connected the whole mass on the left, adding to the sweep of forms leading the eye to the Mill. The rock near the bottom picks up the eye and leads it up toward the left and then sweeps around toward the right where the white roof of the Mill (and the tree on the right) stops the eye. Hopefully, then the viewer will explore the Mill, its old wooden sides and the waterwheel below.
Further enhancements can be made with color. Though the scene is dominated by light and dark values, there is room for suggestion of subtle color, in the Mill, the sky and the snow, and we’ll go into that next week as the final step in planning stages of this painting.
