• Thanks to all of you who joined us for our Sunday chat. If you missed it you can watch it by clicking this button. Did you know that the color of the light source determines the color of whatever you're seeing? Yesterday at sunset, I noticed that a spot on my gray storage building was
orange where the light was hitting it. (It didn't occur to me to take a photo.) But in this photo, the light source is behind the images and is locate at an angle to our upper right. With it being a direct light source, the warm color of the sun's rays are blending with the
colors of the leaves being influenced by the rays, giving us the colors we see. Notice in this overcast light how the yellow greens have cooled in hue. That's because layers of clouds are in front of the sun rays, cooling their hue. That cooler color of light is now mixing with the
color of the foliage. We experience a similar effect comparing these two photos of the same lady slipper. Where the warm light rays are hitting it, we see more red violet. Where the cool light rays are hitting it,
it leans more towards violet. Notice in the shadow areas, the change is more subtle. LOCAL COLOR VS LOCAL COLOR PLUS LIGHTThis phenomenon is highly evident on green grass under a brilliant sunset where the hue of the light is more orange, like our sunset was yesterday. The red and yellow in the orange hue mix with the green hue of the grass, changing it towards a
low saturation of orange. The red neutralizes the hue of the green, causing the orange to dominate. So, when we are painting, we can't assume that green grass is always green nor that any other color is what we know it to be. Rather, we must observe the color we are seeing. Enjoy a fun weekend seeing--really seeing--color!
|
Happy Painting,
Dianne
dianne@diannemize.com
|
During my Language of Painting series, I explained the role of our visual elements. If you'd like to review those roles to better understand the behavior of elements, here are the links to each of those
discussions: Color --Value -- Shape -- Texture -- Size -- Line and Direction
You can access the archive of all my newsletters (as well as the Quick Tips and other stuff) at any time by going HERE.
|
