Discover the Pattern of Light and Shadow chapter 5
Squint at the image on the right. How many large shapes do
you see? Do you see four large shapes of shadow? There is a
large rectangle of shadow in the lower half of the image.
There is a definite triangular-shaped shadow in the top-right
corner. There is also a lighter rectangular shape of shadow
joining the triangular shape to the rectangular shape in the
lower half of the image. The bottom halves of four of the
objects (with the bunch of grapes as one object) are all in
shadow. This shadow is punctuated by triangles of light.In this piece, the artist has drawn in the shapes as she sees
them. In doing so, she has simplified the information that her
eye is receiving. She has eliminated the details and concen-
trated on connecting the shapes of shadows together. The
subject matter has been observed as a completed jigsaw puz-
zle. The pieces of the puzzle are comprised of the shapes of
light and shadow, which fit together from the darkest shadow
to the lightest highlights.Here is the same subject as above, but the lighting has
changed. Take a good look at this image and decide what
shapes you can see in this jigsaw puzzle of light and shadow.
When you think you can see the large shapes of shadow,
make a sketch of these shapes. You can either outline the
shapes that you see or simply fill in the shapes with a light
or dark tone. We discuss tone on page 53. Keep it loose; it
doesn’t have to be exact. Over the next page you can see the
sketches that the artist has made of this image.CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE
Still Life Study,by J. S. Robinson