VALUE What is the Quiet Conversation?

The quiet conversation is comprised of the areas of your the painting that are close in value, and relatively more subtle, and delicate. The quiet conversation is what you see when you’re standing right in front of your painting, or your art. The quiet conversations tend to disappear when you view the work from across the room. From that distance, all you will see will be the higher contrast areas and shapes in your art. The quiet conversation is less noticeable, especially from a distance, because the value contrasts of the shapes or areas that make up the quiet conversation are close in value.

In the diagram above, the three subtle elements on the right side create a quiet conversation. On the left side, the three high contrast elements are not considered part of the quiet conversation – they are part of the loud conversation.

We want to have both a loud conversation and a quiet conversation happening in our art. Those conversations are opposites, and that is why they can create so much interest when seen together. “Quiet” and “Loud,” when seen together enhance each other.