IMMEDIATELY IMPROVE your PAINTING

Previously we have been taking a look at Tonal Values along with various aspects of Colour and Colour Mixing. If you have recently signed up for a Free Demo you can view this previous content at the other blogs posted listed below.

This post is the first of three on my discovery, after many years of my own practice and tutoring 100’s of students, of a subject that will immediately take your painting to the next level.

The topic is edges!

I would say it is the final piece of the painting puzzle, once there is a foundation of composition, shapes, tonal values & colour. It is the final Primary Principle (hence the title of the first Course of the Masterclass Series).

Don’t forget, we will be taking a really deep dive into all these principles and much more, as well as looking at how to practically apply them, in the upcoming Watercolour Masterclass Series. This will only be running once a year so if you are interested, be sure to hop over and take a closer look at this link.

Let’s start by defining what we mean by edges.

In simple terms, it is how we see a transition from one area to another.

This could be from one plane of an object to another, the transition from one object to another, or between object and background. Essentially, how are we seeing the edge between the two?

Some examples:

Take the cube below. The edges between the different planes of the cube are very sharp. The transition is distinct. We call this a hard edge.

Take a cube, round off the edges slightly and the transition between planes is still visible, but it is less distinct, therefore not as sharp.