Drawing lessons - illustrated lesson notes for teachers and students

Textises and cloth No2

Gauze and diaphanous silks - two (the third one here is transparency or the form beneath)

values between highlights and middletones close.

Virgil Elliott writes: 'The key is to understand that light on diaphanous cloth renders it more

opaque, and thereby obscures more of what is underneath, while in shadows it is more

transparent, allowing more of what is under it or behind it to show through. Also the opacity/

transparency is affected by the angle of the cloth relative to our line of sight. Parallel to the line

of sight it is more opaque, and perpendicular to it it is more transparent, with varying degrees in

between those extremes.'

Velvet - two + - folds work light a bit differently than other fabrics.

Secondary light - This is the ability of a surface to absorb light rays reflected from another

nearby surface(such as the yellow chair below). The artist can then insert complements in the

shadows or between the tonal divisions.

Here in this detail from a Goya painting there are secondary and tertiary reflected colors which

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