See the Value (by Debby Thrailkill)

She came into my life quickly, serendipitously, splendidly. I needed something and I wasn't quite sure what it was, but I was watching and waiting for it. I was keenly aware that my next new passion was ahead of me, but I had yet to find it. Then I met Carmen.

Carmen is an internationally accomplished fine art painter from Spain. She has a glorious repertoire of work that spans more than forty years. I inquired about painting lessons at a local art studio and Carmen answered. She invited me to join her morning classes two days a week and described the classes as "Joyful". A few days later, I met Carmen in person to try my hand at oil painting… for the very first time.

My first impression of Carmen was her passion for life and art in every sense. A mature, beautiful, and strong woman with colorful streaks of lavender and pink in her hair, and matching color on her eyelids. Carmen speaks with a heavy accent and a singing, positive spirit, encouraging growth from students of all levels of ability. Having zero experience, I found myself armed with a pallet, brushes, paints, easel, and canvas on my very first day. Carmen guided to me to sketch a vignette she had created, which was posed in front of me under a natural skylight. I was challenged in every sense because although I consider myself creative, I have never been artsy. Carmen explained that I must learn to see the colors, the life, the energy of the scene, in order to re-create it with a brush and vibrant colors.

As Carmen helped me mix the oil paints, I could tell I was in an accelerated program with a master. Watching her take shades of Veronese greens, cobalt yellows and blues, and mix them effortlessly into a spectrum of beautiful colors instantly enthralled me. She showed me how to use my brush using small sideways strokes to work the entire canvas all at once, and to see the very subtle but kaleidoscopic like colors in a simple vase of tulips. Where I was seeing green, Carmen was seeing green and lilac and yellow and purple and even a touch of red. Carmen told me that I must learn to see the shadow, the color, and the value (relative lightness or darkness) in everything. Carmen teaches there are no strict edges, that colors overlap when near each other.

Ever since that very first art class, I see so much more of the “value” of everything in front of me. Carmen is teaching me to see all of the subtleties I had missed before, and with that comes so much more beauty. I laugh when Carmen tells me to, "Stop thinking and just do", because that is not how I normally go through life. But I am starting to realize there is so much more to see. Life is glorious, people are breathtaking, and emotion is in everything… if only you will allow yourself to see the value!

Art is not truth. 

Art is a lie that helps us to realize the truth.

~ Pablo Picasso