advancing with watercolorwatercolorist can represent shadows in a dramatic and painterly way. shadow...

Advancing with Watercolor Problems and Solutions: Shadows

Varenna Italy - 2019

ADVANCING WITH WATERCOLOR - GARY TUCKER © 2019 AD1

“Shadows Play in Varenna”

Problem: Light and ShadowLight is one of the most beautiful things in nature, and one of the most difficult to

portray in painting. The way that we perceive and render shadows goes along way to describing the beauty of light. In this short presentation I will present someways the watercolorist can represent shadows in a dramatic and painterly way.

Shadow intensity

Basically the stronger the darker the shadows. If the sun is very strong upon the scene as in today’s image, the shadows are going to be rather dark. In the case of the photograph above the shadows are equally dark across the scene from far away shadows to close shadows. But if we want to portray depth we need to very the intensity of the shadow. Shadows nearer to us are darker often warmer. Have a look at the total study that I’ve done and you’ll note that the nearest shadows are the darkest.


Shadow Direction

The shadow direction of course is important to give us an understanding of where the light is coming from. In the case of this work I made an early note by means of a line in pencil `describing the direction of my shadows. I did this because as time moves on the shadows quickly change their direction and the original state of the shadow could be lost. Photographs would also help to remember the direction of shadows. The direction also helps to describe the surface that the shadow lies on. Look at the difference between the different planes in my picture - in some cases the shadow describes the surface of the building and others the direction of the ground. It is a matter of understanding the angles and then applying to brushstroke along these angles.


Shadow length

Shadow length is also important to create an understanding of the time of day and direction of light. Early morning, late afternoon shadows have grown in length. This can add sense of drama to the painting as well as give us an opportunity for dramatic brushwork. This may be an area where you want to modify the shadow to increase the drama in the


“Delayed”

painting. The strokes should be calculated to give you a calligraphic feel in creating the direction of your shadows.

Shadow Gradation

If you know my artwork you know that I love to use graded washes. These are washes that change over the course of the length of the wash from a darker aspect to a lighter aspect, warmer aspect a cooler aspect, in a very gradual matter. You can find a tutorial on creating graded washers here https://youtu.be/DDiQgvIVWn8

Grading shadows or having them change over the course of their length is a great way to create luminosity in your painting. Technically what we do is paint the shadow in it’s entirety and then return to one end of the shadow and add a stronger color or a complementary color. This change in the shadow can be dramatized or minimize depending on its purpose have a look at “delayed” to see this in a dramatic effect.

Brushstrokes and Shadows

I am also always looking for opportunities to use dynamic brushwork. Sometimes this means bold angular brushwork, sometimes this means splatter or throwing the paint sometimes this means using other ways of using the brush. In the case of shadows they present a wonderful opportunity for brushwork if you look at the painting above you can see how are use the brush in various ways to create exciting shapes with a spontaneous quality - this is all done through brushwork.

Video here: https://youtu.be/uFQlQ2XOOPE

Shadow and Transparancy

Shadows by nature are transparent. When we paint shadows first they can have a heaviness about them or a flatness about them but we can quickly correct this if we put something into the shadow. If you look at my piece “Shadows Play in Vienna” you can see that I introduce pavement into the shadows on the ground, windows and doorways into the shadows on the wall, ornaments and other details into the shadows under the eaves. In all


cases these elements are added after painting the shadows and make the shadow feel transparent.

When to Paint Shadows

I come in misunderstanding by beginning artist is that shadows need to be painted after rendering form. If you watch any of my videos you will see that I typically paint the shadows before finishing the building, tree, tarmac – whatever. I’d like to be able to paint the shadows freely and then make them feel more transparent by painting objects or details into the shadows. In this way I believe we can be more expressive and then return integrity to the services or forms of our objects.

What color to Paint Shadows

Color is a variable but not a very important one. Usually with watercolor we take advantage of its transparent nature so that the underpainting comes through. In the case of the painting shadow play in veranda you can see that the other painting comes through my shadows. When painting shadows I do like to bury the color going from my cooler color to a warmer color but in all cases the color has been broken or grade somewhat.


advancing with watercolorwatercolorist can represent shadows in a dramatic and painterly way. shadow...

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