Egg Month! Light Source and Illumination

Oil on Masonite

Using a light source is detrimental to a painting. Having a specific light evident can create volume to the human eye. If you aim a light onto your subject you will see the highlight, mid-tones and shadows more clearly. If the subject is white or light against a dark background it is possible to achieve a glowing illumination. This illumination will also expose the temperature which stimulates the eye and tricks it into seeing a two dimensional object as a three dimensional object.

Some examples of this technique outside the egg are as follows.... Michael Deas's - Paramount Mark Ryden's - Ghost Girl Kinuko Craft's - Scent of Magic Donato Giancola's - Lady of Shalott

Drop Caps - Final

This is a follow up to a previous post on drop caps. They will be printed in black and white at probably about 1 inch in height. Keeping the final print size in mind I tried to keep the value somewhat simple. I kept getting carried away with the detail so I had to make sure those little areas were keyed in properly. Below I have a close up of the "A". I particularly enjoyed painting the Queen Ann's Lace as well as the drippy background. Karen Appleton sites a quote from Alfred Sisley that I found appropriate for this little painting..."Every painting shows a spot with which the artist has fallen in love".

Drop Caps

These are some sketches I'm doing for GreenPrints gardening magazine. They are accompanying a touching story involving a mother, daughter with leukemia and their garden. Along with these will be a key and spot. I plan to take them into Painter and work with black and white value. Right now I'm working on a bunch of sketches but I'll post the final when I finish. The deadline is coming up fast so I'll be working it!!

It's a little modern twist on Illumination which is one of my favorite genres of art history. I don't get a lot of chances to work with this style so I like to take advantage of it while I can. Off to paint!