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Originally Posted by Joan Breckwoldt
I understand there must be some dark somewhere in the painting, otherwise the painting will look washed out. But still, there are some paintings where the darks just aren't that dark and I think they work.
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Now you're starting to refer to the "key" of the painting. The high-key paintings you refer to (in which "the darks just aren't all that dark") work because the narrower range of values that are used are well managed
in relation to each other. There are no absolute values that must appear -- you don't have to have a near-black value on one end and a near-white value on the other -- you just have to make sure that the darkest value you
do use goes only where the darks should go, and the lightest values you use go only where the lights should go, all in relation to each other in the overall value design. Squint, squint, squint at your subject or resource to sense the location of the different value areas and shapes.
Key has no necessary relation to edges and transitions.
I suspect that those who advised you that shadows must be
dark were probably just trying to get you to extend your value range. That is, perhaps you naturally paint in a high key. When you're starting out and trying to master the depiction of form, it's much easier to use an extended value range -- get those dark darks in there, as well as the light lights, and everything in between. The subtlety of a narrower value range (whether high, middle or low key) is tougher to parse.