CHIAROSCURO

Light and Shade are key elements to create the illusion of three-dimensional solid form. Our sight receives light which has been reflected from different surfaces. Artists look for many methods to create three-dimensional effect, not using real light and only using illusion of light on the canvas. One of these methods is chiaroscuro; chiaroscuro is the use of strong contrasts between light and dark, usually bold contrasts affecting the whole composition. The name of this technique, was thought up by Leonardo Da Vinci and for the first time he used this method in the painting called ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’ and he also wrote his first book about chiaroscuro. In this book he described many kind of different lights: primary light, secondary light, light from reflection, light through a window, light distorted in the distance and described light and shade is the most important thing to discover form of every object. Unfortunately Leonardo was an academic as well as an artist and because of this, he imagines where the light should be, not one hundred percent real it is created in his studio, even though the objects are outside, the viewers are led to believe it is artificial light. Leonardo Da Vinci always created his own light, be it the contrasting light in ‘The Virgin of the Rocks’ making the figures appear surreal or the gentle light shown in Mona Lisa

 

Virgin of the Rocks 1483-1486 Louvre                    Virgin of the Rocks 1495-1508 National Gallery, London

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virgin_of_the_Rocks

Another artist who used this method of ‘chiaroscuro’ was Caravaggio, the light in his painting was also made in the studio but is more dramatic, real and often falls at a shallow angle which makes the composition more dramatic. It highlights the character and the emotion of the figure at that particular time. For example Supper at Emmaus Caravaggio created nearly photographic realism due to chiaroscuro and we can see everything about the person including their features, physical faults and their actions from which we can interpret what they would say and do. This can be clearly seen in the painting ‘The Inspiration of Saint Matthew. 1602’. There are two painting of saint Matthew in which the composition differs in one the light is central and in the other the light is coming from the top, bot pictures are very dramatic and have a warm character.

 

Supper at Emmaus , London                                     Supper at Emmaus Milan

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/michelangelo-merisi-da-caravaggio-the-supper-at-emmaus

http://www.wikiart.org/en/caravaggio/supper-at-emmaus-1606

Saint Matthew and the Angel

http://www.wikiart.org/en/caravaggio/saint-matthew-and-the-angel-1602

The Inspiration of Saint Matthew ,Rome

http://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/c/caravagg/04/26conta.html

Yet another artist from this era who used light but did not use the realistic effects that light can give but tried to create light from within and with emotion was El Greco. He experimented in his work by using high contrast but was moving away from realism, often the figures in his paintings were distorted as if moving. the light in his paintings was not realistic like in Caravaggio and came from all directions even from the center appearing to come from within the figures. The figures are so expressive and loaded with emotion, the figures elongated and illuminated from an unknown source which can be seen in Opening of the Fifth Seal and Adoration of the Shepherds.When someone sees these painting they fit in more with newer and even modern art more than the art from the ear they came from.

 

Opening of the Fifth Seal                                             The Adoration of the Shepherds

http://www.wikiart.org/en/el-greco/opening-of-the-fifth-seal-the-vision-of-saint-john-the-divine

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adoration_of_the_Shepherds_(El_Greco)

The next example I found was Gerrit Van Honthorst Christ before the High Priest, in which we can see an example of candle light, we can clearly see that the setting is at night with the only light source being the candle and only hitting the main two figures with the rest of the figures in the shade. In the painting we can clearly see that the composition is about the candle and the light it emits and not the colours of the painting which themselves support the setting of the night as during the night we can not see colours as clearly.

Christ before the High Priest 1617

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_van_Honthorst

The last example of candle light is a painting by Georges de la Tour Magdalen with the Smoking Flame, in which the flame is painted in a very convincing way. While the light does not illuminate many parts of the painting it is the shadows, which is seen in most of the painting, that create the 3D effect. We can see a similar effect in his painting Job Mocked by his Wife, where the candle, unlike in the first painting, is not as strong but the contrast of the dark colours and shadow with the light creates the 3D effect.

 

Magdalen with the Smoking Flame, 1640   Job Mocked by his Wife, c. 1625-50

http://collections.lacma.org/node/238963

http://www.wikiart.org/en/georges-de-la-tour/job-mocked-by-his-wife-1650

I have named some examples here of light and shadow used in painting not every example was a chiaroscuro method because the chiaroscuro method is very hard to define but I have named examples of light and shadow contrast which is the main part of creating a 3D effect.

What paint can do

Project :

BASIC PAINT APPLICATION

Exercise: GETTING TO KNOW YOUR BRUSHES

There are many types of brushes, hard brushes used for oil paints, soft brushes for watercolour or medium ones that can be used for acrylic and tempera but all are for painting no matter if they are flat or round we can make any type of mark even with a big flat brush we can make small dots and a very thin line similar to a small watercolour paintbrush. When we are choosing a paint brush we first have to think about what kind of paint we are going to use the rest is just intuition and improvisation using the tools we have.

From memory I have painted a landscape for which I used large flat brushes and oil paint on canvas of size 50cm by 40cm. I also used a few smaller flat brushes of size about 6 but for most I just used the big brushes to make big marks all going in the same direction the smaller brushes were just used to paint the pond and get the desired effect of the water and also of the trees. The next day I came back to the painting and used smaller round soft brushes to get and over layer over the blue pond.

After the landscape I painted on A4 canvas paper using oil paints some fruit and I used similar brushes the only difference is on canvas the brushes had a soft surface compared to the canvas paper where the surface was hard and this left more defined marks.

Exercise: APPLYING PAINT WITHOUT BRUSHES

Using similar pallets as in the previous exercise I used painting knives and I painted on an A3 canvas using oil paints a small landscape from memory. I found this different from the first exercise as I used paint straight from the tube more and this gave brighter more bold colours with a smooth look compared to the other landscape where the paints were mixed and diluted with turpentine.  I think I can use the knife again to create a block of one colour when painting when the paint is still wet as this also gives a thinker layer of paint and so doesn’t mix with the other colours like it would if using a paint brush.

Exercise: PAINTING WITH PASTELS

I did a few painting on an A3 format using dry pastels. I was not happy with the affect because when I added water the pigment is dark but when it dries it changes colour and fades. I think this technique would be useful with watercolour and give a similar affect. I also tried this with oil pastels but I think I used the wrong materials as diluting the pastel using turpentine on paper was very difficult and would have been better on rough paper or on canvas.

 

Project: TRANSPARENT AND OPAQUE

Exercise: Tonally graded wash

For this exercise I used phthalocyanine blue, violet and primary cyan colours. I had a couple of tries using acrylic paint as acrylic dries quickly. Two of the washes were too thick and became opaque. Wet on wet was much better. This exercise was maybe difficult for me as it was the first time I used acrylic to paint and I didn’t know all the properties of the paint. I have done this with oil paint before and when I wanted to do a transparent effect I diluted the paint with turpentine which made it easier, a down side to this is the drying time of oil paint.

Exercise: Overlaying washes

I did the second coat with a more diluted paint and the affect was much better and it is definitely better to do a few coats of more dilute paint than one coat of undiluted paint. I personally dot use a transparent technique very often and do not like it very much.  I used transparent technique in watercoluour painting and sometimes I put overlaying washes in oil painting. You can use this technique in many ways and for different purposes.

Exercrcise: MONOCHROME STUDIES

I prepare two A3 canvas with washes of Yellow Ochre and Raw Umber oil paint. On the lighter I painted a tree from my own photograph and used similar colours such as Umber, Yellow and white. I tried to keep the colour in a narrow spectrum which can clearly be seen from the painting as to gain an idea of space and make the picture look more 3D I would have had to use more colours so I decided to stick to the topic as the painting still shows the atmosphere of the tree anyway. Painting on a light wash wasn’t too different from painting just on a white canvas but it was different when I started to paint on the dark wash on which I tried to create an old barn and dry stone wall seen in the distance from behind bushes in a night setting. This again was from my own photograph.  I wasn’t trying to paint individual branches but give the atmosphere of them being there. I used light colours which made the painting pretty straight forward. I did not put too much detail in the paining as again I stayed in a narrow spectrum of colours as you can see. After I finished the second painting I made a small A4 acrylic painting on canvas paper of the same photo in the same style and similar colours but on a white background to see if there was a difference in the painting on a dark background. From this I can see that the negative painting was much easier to create the affect I wanted.

Project:  WORKING ON DIFFERENT COLOURED GROUNDS

Exercise:  TONAL STUDY ON WHITE GROUNDS

I found a coffee set which has a metallic colour or you might see different colours because of the reflection. I painted two pictured on A4 canvas paper using oil paints, one using a blue and grey colour palette and a second using a grey and black colour palette. Both painting use a similar technique. I didn’t blend the colours to show the light but instead used a block of light and dark in the lightest and darkest spots. The blue painting was less successful.

Exercise:  TONAL STUDY ON DARK GROUND

On a canvas  of size 40cm by 50cm I prepared a wash using acrylic paint of phthalocyanine blue and then painted flowers using purple and pink tones with added blue. When I painted this I was inspired by Chiaroscuro and I was looking at the light. I didn’t want to show the shape of the flowers but show where the lightest and darkest points are and also leave the background untouched.  This was my goal but for the good of the painting I had to add some colour to the background as leaving it untouched would have left the painting separate from the background and I wanted to make the background softer and more gradual in colour. The shape of the flowers you can see more clearly in the back of the picture but at the front you really feel how the light overpowers the flowers and therefore the shape is not so noticeable.  I was however not happy with the acrylic paint as when it dries it becomes lighter.  When the painting was wet the contrast looked much better.