Reflective Colors and Light
During our last on-line session, we covered light, shadow, shade and reflection. It was a good lesson, not just for the students, but for me as well. It's good to review the basics, such as:
- chiaroscuro (sounds like kyaro skooro), meaning the treatment of light and dark,
- the anatomy of a shadow,
- shade vs. shadow; there is a different,
- Notan (Japanese approach to light and dark),
- and lastly reflective color and light.
We also studied five separate artists that offer great examples of light and dark, including Johannes Vermeer, Gerard van Honthorst, Francisco Goya and so on.
I was surprised at how much I forgot and how much I learned as well. But the most fascinating part was the last class when we covered reflections. We usually attribute reflections to water (trees, buildings or boats reflecting on the river) or on shiny objects (coffee pots, glasses, etc.). But there's more to see than that.
Have you ever really looked at a reflective object that's not necessarily bound by water or a shine? For example, here's an orange on a white surface.
Underneath the orange, what color(s) do you see? That's reflective color. What about the bottom of the orange, is there a lighter color there as opposed to the rest of the orange? That's reflective light. They are both influenced by the light bouncing on the paper and/or the orange.
Let's try another.
What do you see, reflective light, color and maybe more? How 'bout the next example. Where is the light bouncing? Instead of looking, try really seeing.
Speaking of which, in my classes, we don't just study the medium or theme for the day, we also review:
- A weekly artist
- "Seeing instead of looking" exercises
- Three-minute sketches
- Commentary on what we are studying
- A choice of projects.
It's more than a drawing or painting class, it's an art class that expands your knowledge and skill.
So what's up for the rest of the winter?
See you soon.
Jill Jeffers Goodell
Glastonbury Studios
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