Image Essay # 6

Part of our last assignment we talked about value. When we talked about value we talked about it on a gray scale. On the gray scale we can to to very light grays that are almost white, to a very dark gray that is almost black. Our latest assignment was using texture and giving value to that texture using a gray scale. We learned that when you place different shades or tones of gray next to eachother they seem to appear different around the edges. Its almost as if there is a false sense of shadow. I chose this picture because I felt it would be a good example of how the gray scale works. If you notice the bottom of the painting is very dary gray and almost black. The stems of the flowes are a meduim tone gray, and the sand or the water right above the black strip very light gray. This gives the illusion that some of these tones appear lighter or darker just because of the very dominat black strip across the bottom. It makes the very light gray appear a little darker, and it makes the medium tone gray appear a little lighter. This technique is not only apparent at the bottom of the page, but at the top also. I also like the value of gray that is used in the flower petals. The values of gray give the illusion if natural highlights. It gives the feeling that the sun is shining on the petals and is showing its natual shadowns. One thing that I especially appreciate about the gray scale is that just by putting two different tones of gray together you get something new.