Looking at Light Differently - Painting & Drawing Tips

Are you looking for ways to move your art up a NOTCH? 

Sometimes it is the LITTLE Things that can make the difference.  

Giraffe: Evening Snack - watercolour, matted 16 x 20, $600

As many of you know I am an avid sketchbooker.  In the summer my sketchbooks are filled with Outdoor Sketching outings.  But in the winter time, I am a bit of a wuss!

 So, I do other things in my sketchbook.  

 Light, shadows and colour have been my focus this year and as a result, I like to experiment. One of the biggest thing I have played with is 'changing the light' in my references.  My students in my online classes had a bit of a taste of this in some of our projects this year.  The results were really quite effective.  

First let me give you a few examples.  

1.  The simplest form of changing the light is in my crow painting below.  The crow is drawn with coloured pencils on the orange paper.  You can see how the orange is showing through just like an underpainting in acrylics. I love what it does to the log and the way it shows up in the bird.  The orange colour reads as Reflective light and Ambient light reacting with the log and crow's colouring thus making it feel very realistic.  And of course, far more interesting than the exact rendering. 

Crow: Giver of Light - Coloured Pencil - Matted 16 x 20, $600

The underpainting does not have to be all one colour.  In my painting of Busy Body, the entire background was painted first with greens, blues and bits of yellow.   Then the crow was painted on top.  If you look carefully you can see the greens and blues in his body showing through from underneath.   Again it is the principles of Ambient and Reflective light that makes it still read as very realistic.  (Special note, of course I use transparent watercolours) 

Busy Body - Matted 8 x 10 Print $20

2.  Change your sky colour. Check out my giraffe at the top the page.  (Yes, he is my first painting coming from my trip to South Africa this fall. ) Below is the reference picture.   

Reference for my Giraffe Painting

We had some wonderful sunsets when I was in South Africa and I really wanted to incorporate that into my painting.  To change the light source, in this case the blue sky to an evening sunset, means your have to change the reflective light that is bouncing around your subject. That is the challenge.  Go back and look at my giraffe and the branches and note the little ways I carried that light into my subject.  

3.  Limit the palette to 1 colour.  I painted this forest scene from one of walks on the trail using only black, gray and white.  ****You can see more about this painting on my YouTube Channel: Seeing Light Differently, using Black and White.  

Tree Cluster from Tynehead Park - Sketchbook Work

Here is the reference that I used.  

Cluster of Trees at Tynehead Park

Working with the shapes and values without the distraction of colour focusing your thoughts on the light and shadows.  You can see how the eye movement within the drawing is directed by the lights and darks. Your eye moves around the drawing, not out.  

This process can be taken one step further by taking one colour (something unrelated to the subject) and working with it.  In the case of my Snowmen Couple, I was trying out a new colour.  It was fun to interpret the shapes in this lovely purple.  I was quite pleased with the results.  

Snowmen Couple - Sketchbook Work

When you look at the reference picture you can see there is a bit of a challenge interpreting the values. But also note how much more interesting my purple couple are as compared to the original.  You can see too that I followed the value patterns from the reference but gave them subtle increases in intensity.  The result is a very eye-catching couple that are not easily forgotten.  

Snowmen Couple Reference

I must admit there were moments in my painting when I wondered what I was doing. After all, purple snowmen aren't the norm!  It was a pleasant surprise when I stood my book up and looked at the results.

Trying activities like this do change how you see light.  But they do more than that.  To really understand light you need to be looking at shadows, values, shape and colour relationships.  Your awareness of all these relationships will move up a notch. 

You can see by some of my examples that this practice can also lead to exciting and interesting work outside of the 'just sketchbook activities'.  I find they often act as a springboard to other works.  

Online Drawing Lessons with Wendy Mould, AFCA, CDM.

Enhance Your Drawing Skills – Outdoor Sketching Starter – Pen & Watercolour for Explorers

 WHEN: Thursdays, Feb 12, 19, & 26  6:30-8:30pm PT
COST: Early Bird $75 After Feb 10, $90

REGISTER: Contact Wendy
 Outdoor sketching is drawing and painting from life, full of adventures. Capturing the special moments in nature. This class will get you ready to 'get out there' and sketch.  
2 Hr Classes with access to recordings for limited time, individual discussion on weekly projects.
Mediums: pencil, pen & watercolour.
 Beginners to Advanced Welcome.

Always  Available at Art by Wendy's Studio

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

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Have a great Artful Day,