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It's ok to stop working on a painting when you like it. In fact, that's the best time to stop. But sometimes after days, weeks, maybe even a year, you drag that painting out of a drawer and realize it's not really as good as it could be. That's where values come in.

Value in painting is simply the lightness or darkness of a color. The darker the color, the lower the value; the lighter the color, the higher the value. The values near the lighter end of the value scale are considered high-key, while those on the darker end are low-key. (My paintings are generally high-key.)

Improving a painting

The painting of my garden Lilies (above) is one I painted in 2020. I've been going through drawers and stacks of old paintings to see if any are salvageable. When I came across Lilies, it was obvious to me that it needed something. I decide to darken areas of the background to give the impression of going deeper, beyond the blooms. I also decided that it was ok to paint positively on a negative painting, so I decided I would add color to the stamens. A dark color would be a nice contrast in all that light space.

Remove color to see values

When I desaturate, or remove the color*, from Lilies, you can see how light my values are. On a scale of 1 - 10, 1 is white, and 10 is black. The darkest value I have here is probably a 7.

Going deeper

Now Lilies has received some added value, and the darker greens take your eye deeper into the foliage. As I'm looking at it now, however, I'm thinking it would be nice if I had added a few positive leaves in the background...

Increased value and contrast

Anyway, you can really see the difference when I convert the image to black and white. My darkest value is now an 8 which draws your eye deeper into the foliage and around the painting, and that is the ultimate goal. And I do have room (value-wise) to add even darker positive shapes if I choose.

It's not necessary to always use the full range of values in a painting, but adding those darks, even in small amounts, can make a "nice" painting even better!

Addendum

The night before publication, I just couldn't resist adding even darker darks to this piece to show you the full range of values. I did a bit of glazing to unify the leaves (and to get rid of that weird shape) on the left. I darkened the ends of the stamens and added the darkest foliage with a combination of phthalocyanine green, quinacridone rose, and very little water. Then, of course I felt the need to add value to the bloom (and my signature). The final color version can be found at the top of the page.

Paint. Love. Repeat.

*You can read about how and why I remove color in Self-Critique Tip: Photograph Your Paintings.