Art lessons - learn how to paint pictorial and ambiguous light
the cracks etc and other areas.THEORY : In fact this method of painting I used copys Turner but most likely had its beginnings with
Rembrant. It gains its effect by glazing over dried impasto to other textures. Rembrant devised a method
employing two whites; one for impasto and one for smoother passages. The impasto white was faster drying,
probably made so by the addition of egg and ground glass, into the formulation. It was very lean, and
consisted mostly of white lead with a minimum of binder ( a variation on Step 1 above). He began applying
it more and more heavily (Step 3 above) as the first stage of a two (or more) stage operation which was
finished with transparent glazes and wiping, to create fantastic special effects, the most extreme example of
which is the man's glowing, golden sleeve in the painting referred to as "The Jewish Bride," in the
Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The brilliance of this effect cannot be gotten in any other way.By wiping the glazes off as soon as they were applied, Rembrandt and later JMW Turner were able to create
a bas relief effect of remarkable three dimensionality as the glaze remained in the nooks and crannies (Step
5-6 above). By glazing again, this time with transparent yellows and/or browns, instead of Ivory Black gave
the textures a rich, golden glow (Step 7 above).STUDENT ACTIVITY: Look up some paint manufacturers or go to your art supplier and find answers to
these questions. Name three oils that can be used in oil paint manufacture. What is stand oil? How is sun-
dried oil made? Name a non-drying oil. What is a varnish? What is a resin? What is a medium? Which is the
most transparent white of those commercially available today? What medium is used for acrylic paints?APPLIED PICTORIAL AND AMBIGUOUS LIGHT
In the painting above 'Allegory for a time capsule - (detail)' I constructed a sky spanning morning, noon and
night. The possibilities of broken light on the ground are immense, but still, within in their particular areas, the
scenes must be light consistent. The transition areas, as always, pose the greatest difficulty. Here I used the
frame divisions to create artificial boundaries but the changes of pallet (colors) and angled light made the true
difference. Note the pyramids are lit from the right, the Venetian castle from above and the skyscrapers from the
left.
GO TO ... Cascading light
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