image essay #8...value

This is a painting by the artist Sanford Robinson Gifford. This painting was in progress between the years 1823 and 1880 and is entitled "The Wilderness." It is believed that the mountain was modeled after a mountain in Maine. This painting actually is currently on display at the Toledo Museum of Art.

The reason this is a good example of value is because it has both extremes. The whites in the water as almost as pure as they can be, while the dark, dark earth tones of green and blue are almost black in the shadows.There is a huge variety of different values in this composition. other than just the extremes. There's very light values in the sky and mountain and highlights in the trees down by the water. There also are some darker grays and halftones that are distributed throughout out the entire piece, including the mountain.

Adding light to a color makes it a tint while adding dark to a color makes it a tone. There is obviously a wide range of of tints and tones in the composition, which makes a good variety of value.