Most folks like sunny, cloudless days, but artists often prefer fog, rain, and clouds. This sketch in Maine wouldn’t have been half as interesting on a day with a clear blue sky.
The water was glassy, just one semi-tone darker than the sky. Everything was gray except those red details at the waterline. All the color of the far boats dropped out. The distant sailboat is just a ghost.
As with overcast light, there is little modeling of the form, because white light is coming from overhead in all directions.
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Related posts on overcast light, part 1 and part 2
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
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6 comments:
beautiful.
Funny, I just finished watching a marathon of the Pirates of the Caribbean films!
Very Nice painting! Is that ship ironically named the Sunbeam?
I think one of the reasons that painters like overcast/fog is that that the cool light source works the same way that paints (opaque) do.
With a cool light source, as the local color of an object is lightened it also becomes cooler which is also what naturally happens when you add white paint to lighten a color: it becomes both lighter and cooler.
Thanks Jim for a great year of your excellent blog!
Happy New Year!
Hey James,
This is a masterpiece of values and use of color. I could study all the subtle values for hours. Great work.
Sincerely, Jason
James, Your blog is full of inspiration but your work ethic is just as inspirational as your paintings. I really dig these plein air pieces.
Love the painting! I moved to Maine about 2 years ago and love it here. I would love to see more of your paintings of this area. Thanks, Mary
The Figurative Realm of Mary Bullock
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