COLOUR THEORY
LEFT Al Gury,
Portrait of a Young
Man, oil on panel,
35.5x28cm
“Highly chromatic
prismatic colours
were needed
to achieve the
intensity of the
warm spotlight on
the sitter’s already
warm complexion.”the colours in the areas of the subject
hit by the daylight. Traditionally,
artists have often desired a north-
facing skylight in order to achieve a
cool, directional natural daylight
source. Daylight, whether directed by
a window or viewed in a broad open
space, cools or neutralises colours.
Unlike the intense, prismatic palette
colours that need to be used in a
painting with a warm light source, in
an ambient light or daylit painting the
earth palette can be very helpful in
matching colours revealed by this
type of lighting. Also, because white
paint weakens the chromatic intensity
of colours if not used carefully, white
works well in creating softer, less
chromatic colours for daylit painting
subjects. The 19th-century
Impressionist painters like Pierre-
Auguste Renoir and Alfred Sisley
painted subjects using natural
daylight. Camille Corot also featured
daylight effects in his highly poetic
studio landscape paintings.
The colours these painters used
were often a little softened and
cooled or greyed by the daylight and
the use of white in the light areas. In
summary, natural daylight, whether
directed by a window, or viewed
generally in an open space, creates
softer, cooler colours, and may affect
value contrasts and depth.
THE DIRECTION OF LIGHT
The second consideration is the
direction of the light source relative to
the subject colour, shapes and paint
strokes. Renaissance painters like
Leonardo da Vinci determined that a
portrait lit by a strong light from a
three-quarter angle, rather that front
on, creates a greater sense of
three-dimensional form. He also used
this visual idea to create a stronger
psychological presence of the sitter in
the painting. Three-quarter directional
lighting is one of the strongest ways to
create a visual sense of solid form and
depth in any painting subject. Whether
using a warm or cool light source, this
directional lighting has been one of
the major tools of naturalistic painters
since the ancient Romans. Later
painters, such as the 17th-century
Dutchman Rembrandt van Rijn and
the 19th-century artists Eugene
Delacroix and Thomas Eakins, used
this strategy to great effect.
Variations in the angles of the
three-quarter direction of the lighting
creates interesting nuances and
visual effects of depth, form and
psychology. A weak light direction, or
the complete lack of it, as sometimes
seen in medieval and very early
Renaissance paintings often created
a flattening effect. Broad ambient
daylight with no specific direction can
also minimise depth and contrast in
any subject. Even so, this strategy
may be very useful to many paintersdepending on their goals in their
work. French Impressionist and
Fauvist painters used this lack of light
direction to help emphasise colours,
paint strokes and lighting effects.
Being aware of your options and
chosing the right lighting direction,
then, is extremely important to
meeting one’s goals in a painting.
Next month: learn how to be expressive
with colour. Al’s book, Color for Painters,
is published by Watson-Guptill.
http://www.algury.com- Strong, warm light 2. Cool, directional light 3. No light direction
Artists & Illustrators 69