Artists Magazine - USA (2020-01 & 2020-02)

34 Artists Magazine January/February 2020

Build LESSON

WARM AGAINST COOL

As a workshop instructor, I’ve found

that artists struggle to see color tem-

perature, although those who paint

outdoors regularly tend to have bet-

ter visual acuity for temperature

accuracy. Reference photos tend to

Since direct light is no longer

present on the foreground in

Dusk on the High Desert

(pastel on panel, 8x16), the

shadowed snow provides

a dramatic cool-temperature

contrast with the surrounding

shadowed landscape that’s

still capturing subtle hints of

indirect warm light.

skew light cooler than it actually

appears in reality and to darken the

shadows. By merely copying the col-

ors as they appear in a reference

photo, it’s impossible to capture the

overall effect of light against shad-

ows in the landscape, especially in a

snow scene. For most artists, the

goal is to capture that effect rather

than record details.

Sunlit snow often appears only as

white in a photo, especially if that part

of the photo becomes overexposed.

To capture the blinding effect of

strong light on snow, we have to pair

an intensely warm temperature