Achieving Darks

The juxtaposition of lights and darks creates drama.  However, putting down the first dark values on white paper rarely makes for the darkest darks.

In this painting of a small lighthouse in New Brunswick, Canada, I put down the sky first.  I thought it was really dark.  But then I put down the background trees, and that glaze was even darker.  Finally, the dark shadows on the lighthouse itself were even darker next to the white of the paper.

Dark values are very useful in projecting the lightest values.  Glazing helps.