68 Artists&Illustrators
The earth palette can be very
helpful in matching colours to
an ambient or daylight scene
Earth colours can be used,
especially in the shadows, but
they often do not have the chromatic
strength to match the colours hit
by a strong, warm, light source. For
example, a red carnation may need
pure Cadmium Red to match the
purity of the flowers colour under an
intense and warm light source. Adding
white to lighten it merely makes it pink.
Because of the sheer power of such
warm light sources, intense tonal
ranges from light to dark can be
created in the subject. This requires a
lot more of the darker palette colours
to be added to achieve this dramatic
effect. Good examples of this type of
lighting can be seen in 17th-centuryBaroque painting. Figurative artists
like Georges de la Tour and Diego
Velázquez created dramatic lighting
effects, usually from a warm light
source. French landscape painters of
the same period, such as Claude
Lorrain, used strong, warm light to
create depth and a sense of drama in
his landscapes. In summary then,
warm, intense lighting can create
dramatic light and shade in a subjectas well as intense, highly chromatic
colours where this type of lighting
is focused.
Another common, and very
beautiful, lighting source is natural,
cool daylight. Ambient natural daylight
often has a grey-to-bluish quality.
While it can create strong light and
shade contrasts, this type of lighting
is often softer and cooler. It’s the
equivalent of adding grey or blue to allABOVE Reza
Ghanad,
Landscape, oil on
panel, 20x25cm
“Completely
ambient,
cool daylight
characterises the
lightly overcast day
in this scene.”