Painting 101:

Painting light and shadow

by Tissa Hewavitarane

I consider light as something created by the sun illuminating the earth's surface. Therefore, we as artists need light to paint. Light comes in many forms. Light has colour and differing intensities; it can be direct or reflected; it can define local colour, obscure and alter local colour.

Becoming acutely aware of specific lighting conditions can make you a better painter. We are out in that glorious light of the world where we experience nature in all its moods from early morning until the hour when only man made light is left. Depending on the nature of the day, reflected light can be either a very important part of your painting.

Seeing the pattern of shade

The most dramatic and instructive to the idea of 'designing with light' is to begin by exaggerating the contrast of light and shade. Seeing the shape of shade is not as easy as it sounds. Several hurdles must be cleared before patterns of shade can be accurately observed and subsequently useful when painting.

The first is to disengage the brain. This is not something I suggest you do to excess, but it is helpful when the objective is to observe clearly. The brain has too many options as to what you should see and often overrides what your eyes actually see.

The second hurdle is to disregard local colour and surfaces that absorb light making it difficult to observe light. The perception of colour is directly related to the reflection of light waves. Dark surfaces absorb much more light than do light surfaces, which makes it hard to see them. On the other hand, shiny surfaces can fool you because they reflect values from other surfaces. Water often appears dark when reflecting shaded surfaces even though it is in direct light. The beauty of seeing the patterns of light and shade is the compositional possibilities provided. There will be times when you elect to ignore the effect of light on a colour, times when it is compositionally advantageous to paint the sun lit-roof black and times when it is best to paint the black roof light. The point is, you do have the choice.

New goals

Great painters are the result of great shapes and great colour arranged in an honest and expressive way. Designing with light lets you create beautiful shapes by simplifying complex subjects into patterns. The last hurdle is to shake off some of the erroneous concepts which stand the way of this goal. To improve your paintings throw off the old concepts and dedicate yourself to new goals. Ask yourself how many subjects can be joined into a generous shape.

Design your painting with three or four shapes rather than ten or twelve. Paint at arm's length and spend as much time and looking at your decision as you apply paint.

Certain decisions have to be made even before you start to paint. For example, what kind of day is it?

Where is the sun? Is it high or low? Each shift in position changes the character of the subject. That is why water colourists learn to work quickly outdoors. The light determines the quality of the edges, the vibrancy of the colour and the contrast between values is the key of the picture. You have to determine your theme, the kind of mass and line that corresponds to them and even the paper that best fits the particular subject. The danger in water-colour is when you only half-know and then try to correct while you paint. Know first and the medium will work for you.

When I start painting, my real subject is the quiet mood of the day. I paint what I feel, not just what I see. I first paint the warm sky preparing the area by wetting it. The wet paper gives a better control of the wash. The sky colour reflects down on the upright planes. This makes more sense. I enjoy the old water-colour practice of unifying a picture by throwing a lot of earth colour into the heavens.

Importance

Always remember that the values are what make the painting's shapes. The values are of great importance and one of the first things to be considered. After we have the value then we may add colour to it.

Generally, water colourists start by putting down light values and work through middle values to the darkest, simply because working over previous areas makes them darker. Value contrasts are one of the major factors in the sparkling quality of watercolours. The dark makes the light shine and the light makes the dark seem deeper. Light values can be tied together in a painting and so can dark values.

Variety

As we have seen nature's colours are full of variety, but how can we get the feeling into our paintings? It's only by working and experimenting with colour in an effort to get a perfectly graded wash.

Anything to vary the wash and give it the look that an artist thinks more accurately suggests colour, atmosphere and light.

Light is the life of the painting. And to guarantee bright luminous lights the washes should be lively, bright and spontaneous and unworked, lighter and brighter. It is also difficult technically to do everything in one wash. You cannot control your edges. Working in a series of washes also gives you better control of your colour.

Study the painting shown here. The appeal of the painting lies in the delicate transition from pale delicate washes to strong dark colours.

To get more expressive power into your painting its vital to put more energy into your brush strokes. Achieving this energy without losing control of the medium requires skill and this can only be gained through constant practice.

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