Series 22: LOW KEY LIGHT

Overcast Shadows – S22L1

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Under an overcast sky the earth is thrown into shade with no strong lights available.  There are ways other than strong lights to make a painting intriguing.

 This lesson is S22L1, Overcast Shadows of the LOW KEY LIGHT series.  Using as her source a photo of a Scotland landscape, Dianne guides you towards finding a sound value structure into which a viable composition can be made, how to find and interpret the minor and moderate value contrasts patterns, and how to create optimal low intensity through which hues can be expressed.

Under an overcast sky the earth is thrown into shade.  Cloud cover diffuses the sunlight causing earth’s images to be lit by ambient light rather than direct light.  With light being dispersed evenly rather than shone directly, images underneath that light reflect it more uniformly.

In essence, these conditions cause everything underneath to be in shadow where value relationships live in a low key and where hues and intensities take on similar characteristics as when in shadow from direct light.  This series explores how to take these conditions and work them into painting.

 Lessons 1 & 3 are studies, each showing how to use a principle to resolve an issue.  Lessons 2 & 4 each take the previous study to a conclusion, showing how to use those same principles to bring convert the study into a painting.

With every brushstroke we make, we are composing.  Just as with any creation, we begin with a structure, then as the art work begins we place shapes and colors according the concept with which we are working.  But the time comes when we move to a different level of thinking and decision-making–that moment when our intention becomes to bring clarity and resolution to the work.

Among Dianne’s passions about painting and teaching painting is how composing principles can expand creative freedom if the artist transcends the “rule” idea and instead, transforms the principle into a tool that opens creative doors.

Read Dianne’s Compose blog posts HERE.  Visit Dianne’s website and example her work HERE.  And visit her YouTube Channel with dozens of Quick Tips HERE.