Making Reflective Light Your Friend - Wendy's Painting & Drawing Tips

LIGHT and SHADOWS. 
They have been my constant friends this last few weeks.  I have just finished 2 sets of Online classes focusing on these two friends.  

Seagull on the Post - 5 x 7 - $75 (no mat) 

I know, we all understand light and shadows.  We see them everywhere.  However, the more I studied and talked about them, I realized the less I knew. 

How can that be, you ask.  I have been painting and drawing for over 25 years now, surely I would know all about them.  

Well, if you follow my blog, you will seen my blog on Make Magic with Ambient Light.  As I worked with students digging deeper into this type of lighting, I realized it had much greater implications.  

In order to move forward, you needed to really understand the function of Reflective Light.  

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There is further discussion on this topic on my YouTube post: Make Reflective Light Work for You.  
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Seagull on the Post

This resulted in an paint exercise with this little Seagull. He is a happy little guy perched on some pylons at a dock.  He was most obliging to hold still while I got some clear shots of him basking in the sun.  My exercise for the class was to change the background colour around him.  

No more BLUE.  

This proved to be a big change.  In order to change the 'blue' to another colour each part of the painting had to then reflect the new colour.  I choose pink/yellow for my background.  

Suddenly everything I knew about Reflective Light went out the window!

As I painted each area I needed to evaluate what light was hitting it and what colour that light was.  No more blindly following along where my photo took me.  This by the way is where you find out how little your photographs really tells you.  

Can I really put PINK on a WHITE seagull??

What colour is that shadow if it no longer reflects the blue from the sky?
What colours are the really dark spots?  A cool black just doesn't cut it.   

What colour should the metal caps be?  Should they really be pink? 

Does this mean my seagull is no longer gray and white??  

Reflective Light bounces everywhere!!

Suddenly the colour of everything was in question.  That simple little picture became very hard.  In the end I was really pleased with this exercise.  My students really felt challenged, they were excited with their results, and inspired to do more.  As their teacher I was thrilled. 
Take the Challenge, change up your "sky colour" and see where it takes you.  

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There is further discussion on this topic on my YouTube post: Make Reflective Light Work for You.

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Taking Registrations for my Spring/Summer Events: 

• ·         Join me in the Shuswap for a 4 Day Art Retreat hosted by Joanne Denis, June 20-23, 2025.  I will be the instructor for Outdoor Sketching.  This is an all inclusive: food, instruction, accommodations and drive from Lower Mainland.  $350-$600 depending on the room choices.  www.aventurasbc.ca
  
  
• ·         Come Outdoor Sketching with me in local parks.  2.5 hr $65.  This is small group instruction, max 3.  Dates to be determined as weather warms up, contact me to get onto my call list. 
  
  
• ·         Save the Date:  next set of 3 Zoom classes Thursdays, October 9, 16 & 23.   Enhancing Your Drawing & Painting Skills.  

Always  Available at Art by Wendy's Studio

Original work, Commissions, Private Drawing Lessons, Prints and Cards of her Work, 

Be sure to like and share my posts.  You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email 

Have a great Artful Day,

  

Wendy

Bringing Light into Your Painting - Painting & Drawing Tips

Grab the Light and Make it Shine!!

I think that is what every artist wants at some point in their work.

Late Walk on the Trail - watercolour Matted 11 x 14 $225

  I just finished teaching a series of 4 classes focusing on Shadows and Depth.  I found I became a little abscessed with the topic.  I began to analyze every painting and photograph I saw.  It was interesting to see the different techniques artists used. Reflective light and Ambient Light were the most interesting.  My class will attest,  I really pushed the limits with Ambient Light.  (See last post "Make Magic with Ambient Light")  

Getting a feel for the painting and setting up the darks in the midground. 

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Last Chance to Join the Class: 
In-Person Online Drawing Classes
 Enhance Your Drawing/Painting Series – 5 Ways to Bring Depth into Your Work with Wendy Mould.
Thursdays, Feb 6, 13, &  20  6:00-8:00pm PST (Zoom)
Cost:  Early Bird $75 After Feb 4 $90 Contact Wendy to Register

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To create depth in your work means shadows and light will play a big part.  For the final project we worked on a reference photo I took last fall when visiting Campbell River.  My sister and I were walking along the trail that winds along the side of the Campbell River. There are several little side streams that have branched out from the river and run parallel to it.  This little scene was from one of those streams.  

In the fall the salmon run along this area and there is lots of activity. Salmon, bears, eagles, and people are everywhere.  Now things are quiet.  The dead salmon are gone, and life is back to normal.  These two seagulls were resting quietly, probably remembering the heady days when salmon were laying everywhere.  

It was late, I caught the sun peaking through the trees on this magically little place.  I loved it.

It was tricky.  

My first thought was, get some colours in the background but keep them light.  The background was the lightest part of the picture.  

Balancing the colour on both sides and adding more detail to the mid ground

Next, get some darks happening.  

In order for light to shine it needs some darks to set it off.  In my picture, the darks were in the midground.  They were the trees and branches.  There was also a few shapes on the ground that were silhouetted by the light. 

Setting up the Water and Seagulls

I didn't want to lose the light so I focused next on the two sides.  They were both the same but different.  The right side was in full shade.  There was a little reflected light allowing for some colour but dark tones.  

The left side was quite different. Here it was shaded but with lots more reflective light. The greens ran to more of a blue-green.  And the values a bit lighter then on the right side. 

Once I had the sides settled I could see it was time to do the water.  The colours needed to be mid-values to light to keep the attention to the front of the painting and offer a balance to the light of the branches in the sunlight. I tried to include the colours in the midground to keep unity in the painting. 

 

Really pulling in all together now - checking patterns, shapes and values

Now it was time to pull it together.  I focuses on the shapes and patterns I could see.  There was no way I could put details in the light.  The perspective did not allow for that.  I used light and dark cold yellows but also used my Cobalt Teal Blue mixed with the yellow to give me some great cool greens.  Also,  I made sure I dropped a bit on the midground and on the water.  Changing the value and hue slightly to reflect its location in the picture. 

It was time for the branches.  I left them til last.  It is almost painting with negative space to put them in.  Once I dropped them onto the leaves I went back and grounded them with some darks. Then it was time to add a few highlights on the water and seagulls, even a bit of foliage in the mid-ground.  

Finally I stepped away.  "Late Walk on the Trail" was done.  

Last Chance to Join the Class: 

Join the Conversation in my February set of Online Classes - We will take a Deep Dive into how Depth in your Paintings is created at every step of the process - From Composition to Completion. 

 Looking Forward to Seeing you there  ↓↓↓↓↓↓

In-Person Online Drawing Classes
 Enhance Your Drawing/Painting Series – 5 Ways to Bring Depth into Your Work with Wendy Mould.
Thursdays, Feb 6, 13, &  20  6:00-8:00pm PST (Zoom)
Cost: Early Bird $75 After Feb 4 $90 Contact Wendy to Register

Always  Available at Art by Wendy's Studio

Original work, Commissions, Private Drawing Lessons, Prints and Cards of her Work, 

Be sure to like and share my posts.  You won't miss a single post if you Follow by Email 

Have a great Artful Day,

  

Wendy