Last week my beginner private  student mastered the 9 tone scale and completed both a blended and a graduated tone scale.

This week they copied a tonal pattern, then a tonal picture and then I did a quick tonal rough impression of my student as she took her coffee break to show her how applying the exact same rules she had used to paint the pattern and image gave her the ability to paint anything she could see, all that was required now was to build on this foundation lesson, develop the confidence that comes from practice with a qualified teacher guide.

Both my student and I are nature lovers. I am pleased with her progress, it will not be long before we are painting flowers and landscapes from life together.

I am enjoying teaching again.

A black and white and shades of gray picture or photograph is a tonal picture.

With no colour present the image appears only as tonal values or light and shade.
It is only because of the effect of light hitting the things we look at that we can tell what they look like. Learning to see the exact tonal value of these things is the most important thing an artist has to do in order to be able to represent that subject as a painting.  You cannot paint it until you can see it correctly.

It sounds obvious, but we can replicate dark as black paint, very simply and even the lightest tone by using white paint, but seeing and mixing the middle tone the medium dark and medium light tone takes training. This is one of the most important lessons for any artist and learning to see and replicate tones could be likened to the important  as being able to hear and replicate music notes for a musician.

I always teach my students health and safety in the choice and use of art supplies and place a strong emphasis on learning  to see tonal value and replicate the correct tone or light and shade in your painting.

The demonstration pictures represent a second lesson in painting in my art studio.