Painting With Light In Mind
Hello all!
It’s been awhile since my last blogpost- but that hasn’t stopped my paintbrushes from moving. Painting conditions here (in the Great Lakes region) have either been hot and sunny or downpouring, which the garden thanks.
In this post, I wanted to break down one of my recent paintings I made on one of those hot/sunny days. See below. 👇
This tree was fascinating to me! I’ve seen it before during other outings/ paint excursions, but this day I couldn’t stop looking at its shape and knew it was the right subject.
Here’s a close-up of the reference. I walked around this spot for a bit to try to find the angle and composition that ‘felt’ right. Every painter’s feeling is different when finding subject matter from life- and I’ve learned to trust this initial instinct.
Once I find the spot I want to paint from, I try to think about the light, light, light! (Yes it’s that important).
These are the best questions about light to ask ourselves:
What color is the light? It will change depending on weather conditions and time of year.
Where is the light coming from? In the picture, I found that it was coming down from the righthand corner of the frame and almost wrapping around the tree.
Where this is light, there is shadow. What color does the shadow of the light make? The cast shadow will appear different colors in the painting depending on the color of the object it lays on top of, however the actual color of the light will stay the same.
Here are some last process pictures. And always, have a colorful day!
xxCass
