Painting in Black and White

As you may or may not know, most of my learning about the 'art of art' has been done online.

One of the tips I see regularly appear in courses and on forums is with regard to not knowing when to stop, and whether your work is actually complete.

This particular tip is of course one of many on the topic. It involves taking a photograph of your painting and viewing it in black and white; That way, you can see the values (levels of light and dark) alone and spot any inconsistencies.

This got me thinking; how easy might it be to create a paiting only using black and white paint. For me, it's actually much more difficult.

Contrary to what you may think, there's still paint mixing involved. Without a rainbow of colours at my disposal, finding the exact value of gray becomes so important. Also, some of the tricks I regularly use with colour and texture, tricking the eye into seeing depth and distance, no longer seem to work, and blending becomes key.

Despite the added complexities, I very much enjoy creating mono works and have a handful already complete for my upcoming summer exhibition. Some of these have a tiny amount of colour infused, but this is done mainly just to add (or remove) temperature.

After seeking some critique on my work, people had much more to say (thankfully positively) on my mono pieces. On digging a little further, this seems to be because using shades of grey, subconciously forces me to focus on shapes, lines, shadow and light and this produces something more asthetically pleasing for many. In addition, the use of simple black and white does seem to convey any drama, mood and intention more clearly. Something that's become very important to me in my practice.

On a practical and sellability level, monochrome art is of course timeless and can work on most walls. However, as is the case for most artists, I paint first and foremost because I love it; And right now, painting without colour is one of my favourite ways to spend time.