Mood and Key

"View from the Ridge - Evening" - Final

I shared an early version of these paintings in early December in my posting on "Value and Key" where I demonstrated how 'value' plays such an important role in determining the feel of a painting.  In the finished paintings, shown here, the 'Key' (predominance of light or dark color range) makes a huge difference in the mood of the work.  The evening image above is in a lower key (darker), and feels more settled, like the end of the day.  The morning version is in a higher key (lighter), and feels expectant, like the start of the day.

"View from the Ridge - Morning" - Final

I had fun exploring how key creates mood with these paintings.  I think most people are aware of the light qualities of different times of day, and key and value are vital tools for the artist to use in recreating these.