An often neglected “stage” in a painting is restating the lights and darks. Paintings often start well, particularly when they are following a value study. Clear, maybe even monochrome darks contrasting with lights. Forms are blocked and connected, colour and context added. Details and adjustments made. Then suddenly it’s gone all muddy! Or perhaps it all almost works but looks lifeless. What once looked really dark, or light, looks less so now, essentially because there is so much more going on. It’s about contrast or relative value. It doesn’t matter a whit how dark or light something is when it blends into the surrounding area.
The solution is of course, quite simple. Make the darkest dark even darker and the lightest lights lighter. This is often termed “restating”. Two things are going on here. When initially applied, what looks very dark is often not as dark as you think ..because of the starkness surrounding. And now the opposite is true, given it’s been surrounded by mid-tone paint.
I’m sometimes asked what’s more important, the lights or the darks? Well, I think TV’s Bob Ross got it right when he said: “you have to have the dark in order to show the light.” A dab of pure dark here and there, I’d say a cool blue-black.
Try it, it works wonders!