Lost in Thought, 18 x 14 inches, oil on canvas
This painting is available. Please email me for details.
This painting is available. Please email me for details.
I'm posting this painting as a good example of a simple light-on-dark structure. Just like the light-on-dark carousel horse painting, the lit area is very light and the background very dark. There is very little reflected light, except where light is bouncing off of parts of the figure itself (compare cast shadow on her left thigh with the form shadow of her head, which receives no reflected light) There is virtually no ambient light. In the studio, there was actually plenty of ambient light (we had to have light so we could see our palettes and canvases) but I ignored its effects on my painting and focused solely on the primary light source.
This kind of structure typically suggests indoor lighting. When we're outside, we usually see ambient and reflected light everywhere, illuminating everything. If shadows are illuminated, they will be lighter in value, of course, and we would see lots of color in them. Indoors with a single light source, we may have a structure such as this one, where the shadows go very dark. It's not always the case, because indoors, we can control lighting however we want. I'm just talking about this particular kind of light-on-dark structure. We see this over and over throughout art history, and we have a name for it; chiaroscuro. Rembrandt. Velasquez. Goya. Da Vinci. The list goes on and on. And then the Impressionists came along and took the newly invented tubed paints outside, and suddenly everything changed....but that's another day's post.
This kind of structure typically suggests indoor lighting. When we're outside, we usually see ambient and reflected light everywhere, illuminating everything. If shadows are illuminated, they will be lighter in value, of course, and we would see lots of color in them. Indoors with a single light source, we may have a structure such as this one, where the shadows go very dark. It's not always the case, because indoors, we can control lighting however we want. I'm just talking about this particular kind of light-on-dark structure. We see this over and over throughout art history, and we have a name for it; chiaroscuro. Rembrandt. Velasquez. Goya. Da Vinci. The list goes on and on. And then the Impressionists came along and took the newly invented tubed paints outside, and suddenly everything changed....but that's another day's post.
8 comments:
Hi Terry, I have been following with interest your informative posts. Can you suggest colours for a limited palette without blue? I would like to try.
Carolann, that would be Titanium white, Yellow Ochre, Transparent Earth Red or Transparent Oxide Red, and Ivory Black. The trick is to think of the black as blue, not black.
FYI, the painting I posted today was painted with a fuller palette. I couldn't get that blue without a strong tube blue.
Terry, This is another one of those boring posts that I know you get all the time where I thank you for taking the time to Blog. I truly get inspired from the work to the words!
I like this painting, when I see a painting that I like, I don't analyze it technically, I feel a visual pleasure, to me is like poetry . this doesn't mean that I don't appreciate your technical instructions, but I usually leave that for another occasion , for the beginning Y just enjoy looking and entering in to the painting.
Au contraire, Randy~ I appreciate it very much!
Jesus, that's the way it should be. I'd much rather prefer the viewer enjoy the visual experience, than to pick it apart! Although analysis has its own intrigue, I too, enjoy just letting the painting soak in.
Thank you Terry, I will try these colours, I think here in the Uk Oxide Red might be Burnt Sienna, and Earth Red, probably Burnt Umber. Anyway will have a go with these.
You're welcome, Carolann~
Burnt sienna is a good replacement, but it's opaque and not nearly as bright, so it limits your saturation even more in the red area. I use Gamblin (Transparent Earth Red) or Rembrandt (Transparent Oxide Red), but I'm sure other brands have a similar thing. If all else fails, go to burnt sienna. But no Umber in this palette; it doesn't contribute anything to what the simple palette is meant to do.
Good luck!
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