Julie, what a great explaination of shadows! This is something that I really need to work on, so appreciate you taking the time to do it. The simplified shape of the egg helps to give clarity to your discussion. Thanks, so much. I will look forward to the rest of the thread.

Kathy

Whoa–Julie, thanks! You have done a terrific job describing your part of this!! Great descriptions and illustrations…

Here’s my part, on obvserving shadows in the landscape.
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In landscape painting the source of light is clearly the sun, warm and yellow, casting shadows across the land or other planes of the earth. Because we have only one sun, shadows are cast in only one direction. However, sunlight may be direct or reflected, which can account for the mystery of shadows. Reflected light can add delightful complications, causing variations in angles and colors. Look for the mingling of sharp, crisp shadows created by closer objects and the fat, rounded shadows from those farther away.

To paint the fine distinctions that can be found in shadows you must first select their proper values. Look for the variety of shadows from the deepest crevice to the most insubstantial whisper of shade from a distant cloud. Gaze into the light area and analyze a shadow’s value using your peripheral vision to perceive correctly the proper tone of even the most delicate shadow. When you stare into shade your pupils dilate and your eyes adjust to the dimness so that over time you can almost see in the dark. Make use of your peripheral vision even when using a photograph, to aid you in seeing the values more accurately, but be aware that the photograph is at best inaccurate. If you rely on photographs to decide the value of the shadow you can easily be led astray. The camera is a far less sensitive instrument than the human eye and averages the available light, resulting in overly dark shadows. Take time to look at shadows, recording their values in your mind’s eye, rather than copying a photo. That way, when you use a photograph you will remain independent of it and remember the relative transparency of shadows.

Here’s an underdrawing that will show you some things to look for in the values. It’s on Wallis, a piece that has been wiped clean of another image causing the stains you see. I did the drawing in extra soft thin vine charcoal and a pale gray pastel pencil.

When painted correctly, a shadow does not look like something that has been laid over an object but is an integral part of it. If the shadow looks like a sock draped over the wall it needs to be more transparent. Only in the deepest darkness are shadows so thoroughly black as to become opaque, and those are usually found outside night. The value of a shadow becomes progressively lighter as it travels away from the thing that is casting it. This means that shadows are darker where they originate and lighter where they end, due to the addition of light reflected from the sky or ambient light in a room.

As a broad generalization, the shadow side of an object is somewhat darker than the shadow it casts, due to this addition of light in the horizontal plane. However, this can be affected by the local color of the object, so that a white wall will not be as dark as the shadow it casts on green grass. Shadows are subject to the laws of aerial perspective, and so become lighter in value and cooler in color with distance. The shadow of a cloud cast at your feet is darker than the shadow of the cloud on the distant mountains.

To keep your shadows colorful but believable try this recipe: 1) imagine the local color of the object upon which the shadow is cast, 2) slightly darkened by the shadow and 3) somewhat blued by the sky. This recipe will work for you as you begin to paint shadows, but as with any recipe, you should flavor it so that it becomes your own. Any good cook knows that the recipe is a great starting point but it needs the personal zest or subtle variations of the chef to make it special. Do not slavishly adhere to it; add a few dashes of colors of the correct value to spice up your shadows a bit.

Oftentimes what color to use to begin can be a difficult decision. What color is that wall or the sidewalk in shade? It might help you to settle on the color of the object in sunlight before trying to determine the color of the shadow. If the wall is pink, darken it slightly, add a little blue and you get lavender. If the wall is yellow, darken it and add blue: green. White? Darker and bluer: light blue. You get the idea. Remember, however, that a yellow wall does not become a green wall just because it is in shadow. You must always be sure to add a bit of the local color, in this case yellow, into the shadow area selecting the proper value.

If you are still having trouble choosing a starting point, try standing back from the subject and simply naming one color. Walk away from the shade or a few steps off from your photograph. Name a color on the color wheel. Purple? Green? Remember that gray is not on the color wheel, nor is brown. With distance you won’t see as many of the nuances of color and will be better able to name one simple color to use. Once you name it, run to your easel and find that color and begin there. Start with a color, then flavor it to make nuances of gray or brown, if necessary, or retain the freshness of whatever color you choose, as long as it is the correct value.

Notice the layering of colors on this pathway, rooted in the color of the dirt in sunlight–but colorful!

Some people see the color of a shadow as complementary to the color of the plane on which it is cast, an idea made popular by the Impressionists. Of course, if you stare for a long time at any color you will begin to see its complement as an afterimage. This can work beautifully, but need not be a hard and fast rule. Be adventurous and try different combinations of colors to see how they work.

Closely examine the edges of shadows. Sometimes you will see a slightly warm quality there, due to the afterimage, which leaves a halo of complementary color along the edge. This might suggest some great color ideas to you as an artist and result in exciting shadow colors. At their simplest shadows on the ground could be described as basically cool in color because the cool blue of the sky is injected into them. Shadows on any vertical plane, such as the wall, are often somewhat warmer in color because light reflecting from the ground may bounce into them. The idea of a recipe, therefore, is only a suggestion to help you begin. In fact, shadows are complex and varied, and the colors used are creative decisions that every artist may choose.

Remember that shadows have no independent shapes of their own. They show 1) the shape of the thing that casts them and 2) the shape of the thing upon which they are cast. If a shadow changes direction or shape, either the ground it is crossing is causing it or it comes from the object casting it from above. It changes for a reason.

For instance, notice how the shadow licks up and around the post near its base, then flattens out on the ground plane, and in turn angles up the wall to the post that’s casting the shadow, where it is darkest.

Shadows are crisp and detailed at the root and softer at the end. The farther a cast shadow travels the softer and rounder its shape becomes. The reason for this is the round shape of our sun. This may be easier to understand if you think about sunspots, where light peeks between the leaves of a tree and is cast onto the ground. These spots will be rounder in shape the farther the sun travels before it hits the ground. The shapes of the leaves will be more apparent the closer they are to the wall. The sunspots will, conversely, appear rounded if the leaves are far away from the wall. This is because the gap where the sun shines through forms a kind of atmospheric lens that focuses the light in the shape of the sun, which is what accounts for the rounding of shadows with distance. In fact, if you examine shadows and sunspots during an eclipse of the sun, the shapes change to mimic the sun’s shape. The next time there is an eclipse, rather than looking at the sun, pay attention to the shadows cast on the ground. It is remarkable to find crescent shaped spots and shadows there.

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Your assignment, should you choose to accept it (oooo, dating myself here. If you recognize this statement you’re older than dirt!), is to show us your shadows.

Paint an egg, using the same egg photo as Julie or another one you find in the RIL or one you shoot yourself. (Let’s not snag her other photos shown here without specifically asking to paint them, okay? Thanks…)

Or paint a landscape that has some shadows in it, from a photo or from life, and show us your results.

We’ll be happy to critique your shadows and see if we can help you learn how to do it, encourage you when you do and move us all on to a better understanding of them.

Also, for a really good discussion on shadows that was in Pastel Talk recently from Jackie Simmonds, see this thread: Seeing into Shadows

Hoping to see your paintings soon! The Shadows Know HAhaHAhaHA!

Deborah

Here are a few landscape possibilities for you, too.

Have fun!

Deborah

Oh, thanks, Kat! I forgot to let you know this was coming up! (Can I use frantically busy as an excuse?)

It is a lot of information, isn’t it? Remember, if you print it out you have to paint something.

Deborah

Julie, Dee..you two make a great team. Ya’ll have given a healthy dose of info with excellent visuals

(penumbra…never heard that term before, but will start to incorporate it in my dialogue. Webster uses the moon in an eclipse as an example for the non painting public)

Cheena..that still life caught my eye too. Go for it!!!! I know you will do a great job! (btw…has your friend visiting from the USA brought you your new pastels yet????) You gotta show us when they arrive!

Yes, Preston! My colors have arrived!!!!!!! I haven’t done much pastelling recently but I really want to do this one.

Julie, I don’t mean to trace the picture (I never do that
But a bigger print is always better…It just makes me happier