Color and Light - Sources of Light Chapter 2 & Graphic LA - pgs 96-143

GRAPHIC LA

             Black and White 

Create lots of ideas for black and white compositions. Consistently refine and reduce the shapes into the simplest that they can be and still convey what they are supposed to. Keep the composition mostly dark, or mostly light - not too much of a mix between the two.

Try to use the simplest shapes possible and choose whether it is mostly dark or light. 

Use bold shapes to represent what you want - do not be afraid to make a symbol out of anything that can be simplified down.

Bold Shapes 

Jeremy Fenske
Bold shape

Helen Frankenthaler
Composition using bold shapes.

Make sure to keep working in perspective and constantly reevaluate the best, simplest arrangement of shapes and values. Explore and push shapes and make space for the art to happen, both in your mind and your medium.

COLOR AND LIGHT - SOURCES OF LIGHT

             Direct Sunlight

There are three kinds of light that are found in direct sunlight - the sun, the blue sky, and reflected light. Since the sky and reflected light come from the sun, they are both subject to it. Sunlight is so bright that even the sky seems to be soft and diffused compared to it. Sunlight also creates darker, bluer shadows in comparison, and the shadows turn more gray when clouds come out. Shadows are closer in value to sun with more haze/smog. Direct sunlight often washes out the color of outside objects. 

Kingston Library
Colors are muted and shadows are blue

             Overcast Light

With overcast lighting, there is less contrast with light and shadow, meaning the colors of the environment stand out well. The shapes of the objects being painted are more clear without distinct shadows created by the sun. The sky often represents the lightest portion of the painting. 

A Fish Sale on a Cornish Beach
Stanhope A. Forbes
Overcast light makes it easier to depict details. The sky is a very light note in the overall composition.

This kind of lighting is good for plein-air painting because it remains fairly consistent all day without the light changing. Lighting is more even across the board.

             Window Light

Light coming through windows is often blue, unless the sun is shining directly into the room. If there is light bouncing from the ground up into the room, the ceiling will often be greenish or orangeish - overlaid on a white ceiling. 

Cool light coming through the window, with an orange reflection from light bouncing off the ground found on the ceiling. 

             Candlelight and Firelight

Lantern light, along with the above, is yellow orange in color and a weak source of light. During twilight, and after the sun has already set is when these light sources are typically noticeable. In firelit environments, smoke carries light, which makes the shadows around such scenes less dark. Fall-off of light follows the inverse square law.

Garden of Hope
James Gurney
Light rapidly falls off. The lantern has a yellowish glow that inhibits details behind.

             Indoor Electric Light

Three qualities to remember: relative brightness, hardness or softness, and color cast. 

• Brightness: Wattage of a source, location to the subject, brightness of other sources in the area.
• Hardness versus Softness: The sun is a hard source of light; it typically casts crisp shadows and is less flattering than soft light. Soft light comes from a larger, wider source and casts a more gentle light. There are less obvious cast shadows.

Difference between Hard and Soft light

• Color Cast: "..the dominant wavelength of a light source..." James Gurney. Color cast is the "color" in wavelength, that the source of the wavelength gives off.

Photo with a green color cast due to differing absorption of light.

Same photo with the color cast removed.

             Streetlights and Night Conditions

Before outdoor electric light was created, the most common types of outdoor night lighting were blue-green and yellow-orange (from moonlight and flamelight, consecutively). 

Work on collecting examples of nighttime scenes to base lighting off of. 

             Hidden Light Sources

Hidden light sources are inside the composition from an unknown source. This creates a desire in the viewer to find out where the light is coming from. You can have multiple sources of unknown light, which helps create a dynamic scene. 

Canals at Night 
James Gurney
The light source through the arch comes from a different source. There are at least four different colors of light sources here.