The importance of tone
I have found that being conscious of tone in a composition is crucial to its success and the potential to accentuate areas I choose. The more monochrome painting/ drawing I do the more I become attuned to gradients of light to dark. Our world is full of colour and this can confuse tonal shifts . For example, at the moment, I am looking through my studio window at a bright red car parked in a garage. I may have previously painted that car red but now I partially close my eyelids, this reduces the colour detail, prioritising tonal shades. I see that only the car bumper is red from the reflection of light at the opening door of the garage back from there it recedes into a dark cool almost black losing detail and definition.
This led to me re-visiting an old charcoal life drawing I thought was finished. As soon as I looked at it, it was glaringly obvious that I had not given enough consideration to tonal variations. I worked back into it and I think it’s so much better.
This weekend I have two full day sessions with my tutor Jac Saorsa as we move on to something new but here are some grisailles I have been working on over the last week.
