You see this most often when a tree trunk appears light against its surroundings near the ground, and then switches to become darker than the sky higher up.
Ted Kautzky, a watercolor and pencil instructor from the mid-20th Century, used it on the tree trunk and on the bannister railing in this black and white drawing.
I exaggerated the effect of counterchange when I painted this view of Segovia. Clouds were passing over the scene, throwing sections of the city in and out of shadow. I tried to capture the moment when the top of the tower fell into shadow, while the middle section remained in light. I then adjusted the sky tones lighter or darker to bring out the contrast.
Here’s a detail of a painting by Bouguereau. The masses of foliage switch from light-against-dark at left to dark-against-light at right. At the dividing line in the center where the changeover takes place, the definition of the leaves is deliciously amorphous and painterly.
Counterchange can take place along an edge, as it does along this roofline. (Incidentally, I was also thinking of the Windmill Principle, mentioned on an earlier post. I’ve marked the other two “vanes”: next to the sections where they appear.)
Counterchange doesn’t always have to be a complete reversal of tones. Arthur Streeton gets a striking effect on this painting by switching from a dark-against-light silhouette at the top to a light-against-light relationship at the right of the picture. In a strange way the result is more satisfying than if he had contrived a dark cloud behind that illuminated section of the building.Tomorrow: Art By Committee
I love this blog. I visit it every day and always get inspired.
ReplyDeleteI also love that little red cabin. I would like to spend some time there, just by myself.
You have sought out some great examples to clarify this. Great post!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Arco
This is something that always mystifies me, because until you mentioned it in your blog regarding the windmill principal, I've noticed it crop up everywhere I look.
ReplyDeleteI wonder though, is this an actual tonal change, or is it a perception trick, like having the same color against a dark color background and a light color background, so the value of it looks drastically different when placed side by side? You know it's the same color, but they still look like different shades! I noticed that the Bouguereau painting seems to have this kind of principle to it, whereas the others look as if they well placed shadows to signify the change.
Drew, you raise a really interesting point, and one that I often wonder about when I'm looking at a streetlight pole or something in real life. Surely the pole must be evenly lit and the same value, but as the background shifts behind it, it really looks darker against the sky. I suppose the same holds true in a painting: you could make a form seem to change in value purely by what you put around it.
ReplyDeleteIn painting I know I consciously "push" the effect, and in the examples of the roofline and the tree trunk I made changing mixtures on both the subject and the background.
Drew, you raise a really interesting point, and one that I often wonder about when I'm looking at a streetlight pole or something in real life. Surely the pole must be evenly lit and the same value, but as the background shifts behind it, it really looks darker against the sky. I suppose the same holds true in a painting: you could make a form seem to change in value purely by what you put around it.
ReplyDeleteIn painting I know I consciously "push" the effect, and in the examples of the roofline and the tree trunk I made changing mixtures on both the subject and the background.
This is really helpful, and it's everywhere when you start looking for it!
ReplyDeleteThis is exactly what I needed on the drawing that I'm currently working on! Your posts are easy to understand and so relevant to what artists need to know.
ReplyDeleteI’ve been trawling the internet for ages trying to find reference to an effect, often found in landscape painting, where the countershading across a sky gradient gives rise to a kind of frisson of both tonal and hue diffence. I can’t even think of a term for this but it seems like the kind of thing Bob Ross, Poussin and the Hudson River School would all be familiar with😅
ReplyDeleteI know I’ve seen this sky effects multiple times, often in oil paintings, but I can’t now find a good example of it or even what it’s called.
If it doesn’t have a name I think it should be given one!
The effect is observed when, for example, a radial sky gradient has clouds painted on top that, while also displaying their own more or less radial gradient, subtly contradict the underlying sky gradient.
It must be some variety of countershading?
Anyone have an example to reference or even a term / tutorial for this effect?
Runninghead, I don't know if there's a term for that, but I call it parallel gradation when two colors gradate in relation to each other.
ReplyDelete😃 Thanks for the reply! That's a good term, I shall use it.
ReplyDeleteI'll post a link to good examples here as soon as I've found some for the sake of the thread.
I tell my students every lesson to buy your books. Honestly never found a more concise, well-written and thoroughly useful resource to establish the fundamentals. Thanks for making the effort to share your experience.