Lesson 30 - Winslow Homer style value study

Winslow Homer was not afraid to use white paint for accents in his paintings. He also experimented with value studies on toned paper. For this lesson's challenge we coated a sheet of watercolor paper with a mid value wash and worked out a composition of dark shapes on top. Finally we decided which area needed more emphasis and added accents with opaque white watercolor.

Jim covered his paper with a light purple wash and used the white paper to highlight the sun and edges of the boat.


Georgine used a gray wash and chose to highlight the distant small boat.


Emily began with a reddish brown wash and highlighted the foreground boat edges.

Sheauli began with ocher tones and used the white accent in the background to create interest in the left side of the painting.