Maggie Renner Hellman, one of our tutors at the mill, is a master of colour and says. “My Oil Paintings & Watercolor Studies primarily use Color Value Contrast to direct the viewers eye toward the focal point.

Maggie’s use of colour contrasts in her paintings create extra drama.

“Compose your best paintings as opposed to just ‘painting what you see’. By learning to direct the viewer’s eye to your ‘star’ or ‘focal area’ you’ll greatly improve the drama and Beauty of your ‘idea’!
(ie: Your star or focal point is what delighted you about this particular view to make you want to paint it! And best of all, it’s uniquely Your idea!)”

“Some areas will need less attention, while some areas need more attention, requiring a ‘push and pull’ orchestration. The more you consciously see and use these methods, the better you will get! Not everything in your painting gets to be the ‘star’.

“Think in terms of Music: Paintings work best when you have a background chorus and a lead singer. The ‘star’ in your painting is that lead singer.”

How to put this colour theory into practice

“Place your lightest light next to your darkest dark near your focal point to ‘pull’ the viewer’s eye here. Others areas will want to have lower ‘value contrast’ to ‘push’ them into the background ‘chorus’. Or in a primarily darker painting, your lightest areas will stand out most with the use of Value Contrast. (This ‘Value Contrast’ is a method notably used by many ‘Realism’ painters. But anyone can use this helpful tool!)”

You can join Maggie at the mill in 2026 – find out more about her at https://watermill.net/holiday-programme/maggie-renner-hellmann-26/.