composing with tone
and hair, with perpendicular lines at the back of the model’s head and at the line of her cheek and forehead. The sharpest visible edge can be seen on her nose; there are also sharp accents on the bow of her dress, some softer edges around her hairline and then it is softly blended where the hair meets the neck. A successful composition normally
has a dominant value – either a light, a dark or a mid-tone. More than half the canvas area should be occupied by one of these values. When painting from the model, try
to stand well back – that is the best way to accurately determine your tonal values and guard against the dangers of overstating a tone. It is far easier to make a mistake when you are too close to your canvas.
Sargent’s approach was based on
tonal study, as he learned how to use the greatest economy to say the most. In many ways painting is simply a representation of tonal value through the medium of colour.
A HIERARCHY OF EDGES There is a natural order of things in
nature. When we observe an object closely, we can see there is an area with a stronger chroma (the brightness of a colour relative to its environment), a bright accent, a fuzzy part and a sharper edge. Each form has its boundary – an edge or delineation. If we observe these boundaries closely, we can see see there is a hierarchy to them, just like colour or tonal values. Consider this example. The trees on a distant horizon appear to have a
When one uses more than five tonal values, the result can be chaos and disorder
softer edge to them, caused by looking through the earth’s atmosphere, whereas trees silhouetted against the sun will appear to have a harder edge. In reality we know the outline of the two objects is the same, but it is their appearance that one must paint. One must constantly interpret them, maintaining the correct order. Artists sometimes ignore edges, yet
one can see a whole symphony of crafted edges in a great painting. Where is the sharpest edge or the softest edge? Where are those middle edges? They need to be well observed within the whole, in correct relationship with their corresponding values. The sharpest edge is often found near areas of great tonal contrast, whereas the inverse of this is true for the softest edges. The Swedish painter Anders Zorn
ABOVE Fisherman at Hout Bay, oil on canvas, 51x41cm The tonal contrasts in this painting add movement and life to the composition LEFT Secure and Vulnerable, oil on canvas, 70x50cm Inspired by Anders Zorn, this painting is a mixture of hard and soft edges
was a master of edges and a great example to aspiring artists. His 1899 portrait of Martha Dana clearly demonstrates the benefits of varying harder and softer edges to create a dynamic composition. On the one hand, the soft edge of the hair fuses into the shadows; on the other hand, the sharp area of the black jacket, particularly above the shoulder, is contrasted against the light wall. The intermediary edges occur where the lapels meet the blouse. Aldo’s next workshop runs from 31 March to 7 April at Domaine de la Prade in Villasavary, France. The course costs 550 euros for five days painting from life, tuition and accommodation.
www.aldobalding.com
Artists & Illustrators 75
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