Douglas Flynt

2012 Florida Workshops

2011-10-13T07:18:00.000-07:00

I am pleased to announce that I will again be hosting two 10 day workshops in the Fort Myers, Florida area. The workshop will be held at my previous studio location (some of you may know that I have set up a new home studio) that is close to Sanibel Island and Fort Myers Beach.

The first will be focusing on still life painting while the second will focus on portrait painting. My goal is to sharing a wealth of information in the form of demonstrations, group lectures/discussions and individual feedback sessions, all while striving for an intimate and relaxed atmosphere.

I look forward to working with everyone who can attend!

"Still Life Painting in Oil" 10-Day Workshop

Date: March 12 - 16, 19 - 23, 2012

Location: Fort Myers, FL

Click "here" for further information regarding enrollment.

"Portrait Painting in Oil" 10 Day Workshop

Date: April 16 - 25, 23 - 27, 2012

Location: Fort Myers, FL

Click "here" for further information regarding enrollment.

French Translations for Posts on Ellipses

2011-10-11T07:28:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make a quick post extending my thanks to Frank SATAUD who voluntarily translated my last two posts on ellipses into French and then offered to share those translations for French readers of the blog.

They are available below as downloadable PDF files.

Accurate Ellipses- Part 1

Expanding on Accurate Ellipses - Part 2

Expanding on Accurate Ellipses

2011-09-26T14:42:00.000-07:00

(UPDATE 10/11/11 -For French translation of this post please click "here.")

For this post I wanted to expand on my previous post that addressed drawing ellipses—an element so critical to my own paintings. In the previous post I illustrated the “major” and “minor” axes of an ellipse, showed that an ellipse or circle in perspective could be constructed at the picture plane, and offered a geometrical construct to aid us in drawing ellipses regardless if they are 2-dimensional (at the picture plane) or in perspective. If the reader is unfamiliar with those items reading the previous post might prove useful before going further. Here is a link to the previous post:

http://douglasflynt.blogspot.com/2011/08/accurate-ellipses.html

After drawing or painting a great number of still-life elements it becomes evident that the placement and orientation of the major and minor axes are critical to constructing an accurate ellipse within a drawing or painting. In my own work I largely free hand the drawing rather than setting up a careful perspective framework and then make use of my perspective knowledge to inform and correct the decisions I make.

Before going further I should clarify that the following discussion addresses circular, cylindrically shaped objects (cylinders with cross sections that form perfect circles) rather than forms derived from elliptical cylinders, also know as “cylindroids,” whose cross sections are elliptical. It should also hold true for right angle cones that have circular cross sections.

When perceiving an ellipse that belongs to these types of objects, we need to find the orientation of the minor axis for that ellipse. Knowing this will in turn let us find the major axis of the same ellipse. One way to find the minor axis of one of these ellipses is to first find the center axis of the object—that is the axis running through the object perpendicular to its ends. The following image shows this axis for a simple cylinder.

Once we know this center axis spatially we need to visualize the angle or line that we would perceive at the picture plane for this axis. This will also be the visual line of symmetry for the outside contour or silhouette of the object.

Working 2-dimensionally at the picture plane, this line will run through the minor axis of any ellipses we might need to draw for that object. We then know that the major axis will run perpendicular to the line we found. Now that we know the orientation of both axes, once we visually determine their lengths we can construct a perfect ellipse for any of the circles that we see in perspective!

This all might seem rather self evident for a glass of water sitting upright directly in front of you but as you encounter cylindrically based objects that are spatially rotated to more unconventional positions guessing the orientation of the major and minor axes can at times become rather tricky and I have found that this simple understanding and assessment greatly aids me in my own work. Here are some cylinders (and a cone) to illustrate a few more examples:

Thanks for taking a look!

Accurate Ellipses

2011-08-08T19:56:00.000-07:00

(UPDATE 10/11/11 -For French translation of this post please click "here.")

I finished up teaching a still life workshop at the Grand Central Academy of Art about a week ago. While there one of the items we discussed were drawing accurate ellipses in our still-lifes. I thought I would share some of that information here. This information has been of great use to me while drawing cylindrically based objects such as cups and jars in my own still-lifes

One of the first things we need to know is some terminology pertaining to ellipses. The widest distance across an ellipse is known as the "major axis" while the shortest distance is known as the "minor axis." For a circle the major axis and the minor axis would be the same distance.

With this shared terminology, it is interesting to note that if we take an ellipse and place it in perspective the resulting curvature we perceive is no different than if we were to construct an ellipse at the "picture plane" using the dimensions of the major and minor axes as they appear at this picture plane. The image below shows a circle in perspective on the left and the resulting ellipse that we would see at the picture plane on the right. The curvature of both are the same.

As a quick side note, for those of you unfamiliar with the term picture plane, in perspective it is the imaginary flat surface that is located between the viewer and the object being viewed. The drawing below from G.A. Storey's 1910 book, The Theory and Practice of Perspective gives a good visualization for imagining a picture plane.

Returning to our ellipses, because the ellipse found in perspective and the ellipse constructed at the picture plane both create the same curvature we don't actually have to construct the circles or ellipses we see within our still-lifes in perspective—it should however be noted that the ability to do so is a valuable aid to our conceptual comprehension. Instead, and here is the important part, to draw a ellipse or circle being viewed in perspective we only need to know the dimensions of the major and minor axes as they are perceived at the picture plane. With these dimensions we can correctly construct an ellipse at the picture plane which will correspond to the ellipse or circle being viewed in perspective.

With this knowledge in tow, for now let us only work at the picture plane and construct an ellipse. There are many ways to construct ellipses yet there are two main ways that I usually find myself constructing them (or very often correcting freehanded versions of them). If they are rather small I often just draw the major and minor axes in and then carefully freehand the ellipse checking the symmetry of both sides as I go.

For larger ellipses I construct the following geometrical frame work which gives me 12 points along the ellipse to guide any freehanded approximations.

To make the framework I need to first create a rectangle with the proportions of the major and minor axes of the ellipse. I then need to divide this rectangle into 16 equal sections. To make these sections it is useful to remember that a simple “X” created from diagonal corners of the rectangle will always find the center of that rectangle. Along the way we will also gain 4 of our 12 points that make up the ellipse.

At this point we now know 4 of our points and we have divided our rectangle into 4 equal sections. We now need to divide each of those sections into four more sections.

We now have 16 equal sections. However, before going further let's remove the diagonals used in constructing those sections to keep things from getting too visually confusing.

To find the remaining 8 additional points we need to run diagonal lines across the 4 outer sections along each side. Next note where these diagonals intersect the boundaries between the outer four sections of that particular side. At these intersections, the one that is the closest to the outside of our original rectangle will also mark a point along our ellipse. Let's start with the bottom section.

Now for the top section.

The right section.

And finally the left section.

Once again, for clarity let's remove the diagonals used to find the additional points.

And finally we now have 12 points we can use to aid us in drawing our ellipse!

Leaving the picture plane behind, it is useful to know that this same process works just as well to draw ellipses or circles that are in perspective.

This knowledge has been a resource which I have found very useful in my drawings and paintings. After a couple of times rehearsing the process it becomes fairly easy to commit to memory. Additionally, after constructing a number of ellipses in this formal and structured way I suspect that most people will begin to get more accurate results when free-handing them without such a complex framework.

Going even further, some of you may have already picked up on the fact that the ellipses I have shown in perspective have thus far been in one point perspective with an ellipse that would be directly in front of us (the viewer). It is interesting to note what happens when the ellipse is moved left or right from this center position. In doing so the major and minor axes of the ellipse (as seen at the picture plane) will begin to rotate. They do however continue to stay perpendicular to one another.

There is still plenty more to share on this subject however my busy schedule means that I will have to return to the subject at another time. Yet I hope some of you will benefit from what I have been able to share. And as always, thanks for visiting.

Returning to the Blog—A Few New Paintings to Share

2011-06-30T07:46:00.000-07:00

Owing to a number of business and personal related obligations I haven't been able to post in quite a few months. During that time I have received a number of questions that would be great to answer via the blog. With these in mind, I am hoping to make a return to posting more regularly.

I thought I would get back into things with a few recent paintings. The second and third of these were started as demonstrations during workshops I taught earlier this year. These particular pieces have already found homes with collectors and so are no longer available, however I hope you enjoy getting to see them.

Thanks for stopping by!

"Planes" 8" x 16" oil on linen

"Sand Dollars and Glass" 8" x 10" oil on mounted linen

"Apples and Measuring Cups" 8" x 10" oil on mounted linen

My Studio Lights

2010-12-05T18:16:00.000-08:00

I often get regular questions regarding the kind of lighting I use in my studio. At this time I do not have the good fortune to have natural light in my studio. However during my studies I became somewhat accustomed to some of the characteristics of natural light and so a number of years ago I started experimenting with building my own light boxes to try and gain some of those characteristics. After building a few lights a number of other artists who saw them asked about building some for themselves and so I put together a few photos of how they were built. Below is a photo of how I often set up for small still life pieces and some shots that I took while makes changes to one of the lights. I thought I would share the process and the materials involved incase it is useful for others out there. And incase you're not the tinkering type, I also put some links at the end to some lights on the market which may serve you just as well. Have fun taking a look!

Here is the setup I often use for small still life pieces. The light has a mixture of compact florescent bulbs—usually four 6500K bulbs and one 5000K bulb.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photos 1 and 2 show the basic body of the light. This is the first light I built like this and I took these photos while making some modifications to it—upgrading the older design. On this model I used nuts and bolts with lock washers to fasten things together. For future models I used rivets which I would recommend.

The 4 light reflectors are 8 inches in diameter. The aluminum frame was constructed with 1/16" by 1/2" "L" channel lengths of aluminum. The rivets are 1/8" "medium" length aluminum rivets. The basic outer dimensions of the frame are 16" x 16" x 6" (not including the light reflectors).

Photo 3

Photo 3 shows one of the 6" lengths of aluminum.

Photo 4

Photo 5

Photos 4 and 5 show the piece that I fabricated so I could attach a handle. These were attached at the center on two opposite sides of the 16" x 16" frame (side attached to the reflectors). The piece was cut from an 1/8" thick "L" channel length of aluminum. It is approximately 2" in length. The hole has threads that accept a 1/4" #20 bolt. It was created using a "T handle or a tap wrench" and the correct sized drill bit.

Photo 6

Photo 7

Photo 8

Photos 6, 7 and 8 show a smaller different light I constructed that has a "U" shaped channel (made by adding an extra "L" channel) on three sides. I later decided this was perhaps the best way to go in order to hold the diffusion lens to be made later. The channel is a gap of about an 1/8th of an inch.

Photo 9

Photo 10

Photos 9 and 10 show an extra center light that I added by cutting down another aluminum reflector. They also show the start and finish of enclosing the sides and rear openings. To do this I used aluminum flashing and rivets. On the rear I left the four corner spaces open to allow for air to circulate, helping to dissipate the heat.

Photo 11

Photo 12

Photo 13

Photo 14

Photo 15

Photos 11-15 show the arm handle/bracket that I fabricated so that the unit can be tilted and mounted on a sturdy tripod. Most of the handle/bracket was constructed with 1/8" thick 3/4" "L" channel lengths of aluminum and 1/16" thick 1/2" "L" channel lengths of aluminum for the corner braces. At the ends that attach to the light's frame I drilled 1/4" holes for carriage bolts to go through. I then threaded a 1/4" # 20 carriage bolts through the pieces I had earlier tapped out (to create threads)—adding spacers, washers and large nylon wing nuts which can be tightened down so that the angle of the light can be locked in place.

Photo 16

Photo 16 shows a tapped out hole (to create threads) put at the center of the u-shaped handle/bracket so that the whole unit can be put onto a sturdy tripod.

Photo 17

Photo 18

Photos 17 and 18 show the diffusion lens in place and by itself. I cut it down from a 2' x 2' piece I purchased. I cut the corners off to allow for air to circulate dissipating heat. I also sanded the edges to remove sharp spots and lessen the likelihood of it cracking.

Photo 19

Photo 20

Photos 19 and 20 show the bulbs added and the light sockets attached. I later wired all of the cords together into one plug.

And finally the light in action again! As promised here are some links to some lights that should give a similar result:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/479658-REG/Impact_VA903_VA903_Five_Lamp_Fluorescent.html

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/479659-REG/Impact_VA_905_Cool_Light_IX_Nine.html

Workshops in 2011

2010-11-27T09:24:00.000-08:00

Hi everyone,

For those of you interested, I wanted to go ahead and post the workshops and demonstrations I have scheduled thus far for 2011. As some of you may already know, I also offer private one-on-one workshops catered to an individual participant's particular questions and challenges. For further information on this type of workshop please send me an e-mail at:

workshops@douglasflynt.com

As always to check on workshop updates, read comments by workshop attendees, view online demonstrations, or view recommended books and websites, please visit the following link on my website:

http://www.douglasflynt.com/teaching.html

For those of you that are able to participate in a workshop or attend a demonstration I look forward to seeing you in 2011!

2011 Workshops and Demonstrations:

Demonstration: Portrait with Oils

(for the Portrait & Figure Painters Society of SW Florida, http://www.portraitandfigure.org/)

January 11, 2011, 10:30 am - 1:30 pm

(Cost: $10 members, $15 non-members)

Robb & Stucky Interiors Community Room

13170 S. Cleveland Avenue

Fort Myers, FL 33907

Workshop: Still Life Painting in Oil

February 28 - March 4, March 7 - 11, 2011 (10 day intensive)

(Cost: $875)

Artist's Studio Space

Fort Myers, FL

For more information please click here:

http://www.douglasflynt.com/2011_still_life_painting_workshop_description.html

Workshop: Portrait Painting in Oil

March 21 - 25, March 28 - April 1, 2011 (10 day intensive)

(Cost: $975 - includes model fees)

Artist's Studio Space

Fort Myers, FL

For more information please click here:

http://www.douglasflynt.com/2011_portrait_painting_workshop_description.html

Workshop: Still Life Painting in Oil

Summer, 2011 - exact dates to be announced (10 day intensive)

The Grand Central Academy of Art

New York, NY

http://grandcentralacademy.classicist.org/index.html

Workshop: Portrait Painting in Oil

August 22 - 26, August 29 - September 2 (10 day intensive)

(Cost: Early Registration $1100, Due June 30th, 2011

Late Registration $1200, After June 30th, 2011)

Bay Area Classical Artist Atelier

Belmont, CA

For more information please click here:

http://bacaa2010.squarespace.com/workshops/douglas-flynt-august-22-september-2.html

Using a Sphere to Understand Light on Complex Forms

2010-09-19T15:48:00.000-07:00

(UPDATE 10/27/11 -For French translation of this post please click "here.")
Recently I received a question that concerns an earlier image I posted awhile back in the article, The Anatomy of Light on Form: Part II. Here is the image:

The question centers around how the use of a sphere, an object so very different from the complex forms of the cast, can help us to better understand how the light on this complex form (or other forms) works. And ultimately how we might utilize this knowledge to assist us in determining values and rendering.

My short answer is, that by understanding how light affects the simple forms of the sphere we can better understand how light affects the forms of a more complex object. However, this answer hardly seems adequate. For this reason I am going to endeavor to break down the connection between a sphere and a complex form further.

To do this, first I would like to start not with forms but with 2-dimentional geometrical shapes. First let's take an odd shape and place it next to a circle.

Let's say that we needed to replace a section of the odd shape's contour with a section of the circle. In doing so we would find that any section of line (when averaged in our minds to a straight single tilt) from the odd shape has a corresponding section of line or tilt (again when averaged to a straight line) within the circle. This is assuming that we could not rotate the sections of line if we removed them from their shape.

It might also be mentioned that although the corresponding sections from the circle may be a close match in terms of their tilt or pitch they might not be the correct scale in terms of their size, this however could be overcome by using circles of different sizes.

So now we realize that a circle, in essence, contains all of the same line segments (averaged in or minds to straight lines), with their unique tilts or pitches, that we would find on a unique shape.

We now need to apply this same concept 3-dimensionally to the sphere and the cast that we originally looked at in our first picture. Instead of considering line segments (averaged to straight lines) we now need to visualize the form of the sphere and cast as averaged to planes. The following image might help you visualize the sphere with planes:

Each plane on the sphere has it's own value in relation to how much light it receives. Just like with the odd shape and the circle, if we consider the spatial orientation of a plane on the cast and find its corresponding plane on the sphere they both should be the same value (value equating to their pitch or spatial tilt), assuming they both are under the same lighting conditions.

This can lead us to begin to look less at the optical value of a plane and more at its spatial orientation in relation to a light source. On a complex form the amount of light a plane receives might be somewhat confusing to interpret but the same plane thought of in the context of a sphere reveals how much light it is receiving quite easily. Utilizing this conceptualization, it can be easily determined if a plane belongs to a region such as a halftone, or a highlight, not so much based upon its value but upon its orientation in space and context as part of the sphere.

For instance in the image of the faceted sphere from earlier, the plane that appears as a highlight is rather obvious.

An artist painting the cast trying to identify highlights might not look for spots of light tone to identify them but instead look for planes that have the same corresponding spatial orientation as the highlight plane on the sphere.

Visualizing a sphere can be a conceptual way of keeping track of the part and the whole while still focusing only on a particular part (or parts) of a complex form. It is often noted that when painting in a "window shade" or "area by area" manner an artist may have a hard time keeping track of large value relationships—a problem of keeping track of the part in relation to the whole. This trouble can be overcome in some respects by conceptually referencing a real or imagined sphere under the same lighting conditions and then comparing planes from the object to the corresponding planes on a sphere. This is not entirely dissimilar from taking a road trip and tracking your progress on a map to maintain a sense of where you are, where things are in relation to you, and how much further you have to go.

Comparing two planes on the cast and then analyzing both on a sphere can also be a great way to compare their relative spatial relationships to aid in assigning them relative values. For instance two planes facing very much toward the light on the cast might appear to be almost the same value. However if you wish to make a very subtle distinction between them you could easily decide which is lighter and which is darker by plugging them both into a sphere and seeing which one receives more light. It might also be noted that despite one being darker than the other neither can get very dark in value because they are both very much out in the light and a great deal of planes exist on the sphere between them and the darker planes of the half tones.

These kinds of conceptual thoughts using a sphere can allow for very subtle distinctions between tones that optical assessments alone might not allow for.

This all leads back to my original explanation for using a sphere, where I stated that by understanding how light affects the simple forms of the sphere we can extrapolate to better understand how light affects the forms of a more complex object. As with many of the subjects that I have written about on this blog this line of thought could be explored in a much more full and robust discussion—but alas, my schedule doesn't permit me to do so.

Yet perhaps the next time you're painting an object you might just think about a sphere along side it and see if you begin to understand things differently, and consequently "see" in a slightly different way than perhaps you did before.

Thanks for taking a look!

DIFFUSE TRANSMISSION AND TASTING THE RAINBOW

2010-08-21T09:59:00.000-07:00

(UPDATE 10/27/11 -For French translation of this post please click "here.")

DIFFUSE TRANSMISSION

I have had a few requests to discuss how "diffuse transmission," which makes up the appearance of translucency, works.

Because I paint a great variety of materials in my still life work I encounter diffuse transmission quite regularly—perhaps in the light passing through milk (Figure1) or the light passing through the thin wall of a shell (Figure 2). However I also encounter it when doing figurative work and this seems to be where many people really take notice of it's effect—perhaps when looking at the intense high chroma reddish, orange seen in the ears of a person who is backlit.

Figure 1. Black and White 8" x 6" Oil on linen

Figure 2. Understanding Phi 10" x 16" Oil on Linen

As its name implies diffuse transmission deals with the diffuse component of light. And because this light has passed through the object it is described as "transmission." Diffuse transmission is composed of light that has entered a material, undergone subsurface scattering (losing wavelengths to absorption in the process) and then has been emitted back out of the material on the shadow side of the object. It is actually the same process as "diffuse reflection" except that the light has exited the material on the shadow side, instead of the light side, of the object. For this reason we should expect to observe diffuse transmission mainly on the shadow side of an object. On translucent materials that have some substantial thickness (such as a sphere vs. a sheet of paper) the diffuse transmission will appear just past the terminator or shadow line.

In terms of its affect on the appearance of color, diffuse transmission is usually darker in value than what is seen on the light side of the same object. This is due to the loss of light through absorption as the light passes through the object. However it will be higher in chroma than the color found on the light side of the object. This is because only certain wavelengths were absorbed, in effect filtering out some wavelengths while allowing others to pass through. It has been my experience that there may also be some shift of hue (often very slight) from what the local color appears to be on the light side of the object. Sometimes this may be because as the light travels through the object it encounters different layers of materials (each material absorbing different sets of wavelengths. However, I have often wondered if there are also other factors at work, based more on our perceptions with different relative proportions of wavelengths stimulating the eye differently—however that is something to be contemplated further at another time.

TASTING THE RAINBOW

For a greatly simplified analogy, to understand what has already been stated, lets say I find myself with a huge bowl of Skittles candy that represents a certain quantity of light. Each candy with its own color might be a particular photon with a particular wavelength. I am standing on a stage in a filled auditorium with the audience representing all of the atoms that make up a particular object. In this analogy each person in the audience only likes a particular color of candy but for some reason no one in the room likes green.

A Bowl of Light

I begin to toss out handfuls of Skittles to the first row which they proceed to eat assuming they get the color of candy they like. If they don't like the color or they are currently eating a piece, they can pass it on to someone else. However they can only pass a Skittle on 10 times. If no one eats it in that time they proceed to toss it back up onto the stage. This candy on stage makes up diffuse reflection. There is less candy than what we started with (hence less light) and although some of all of the colors should end up back on stage the proportion of green Skittles should be much greater (giving the appearance of green).

Diffuse Reflection

After all the leftovers are back on stage the audience having just started to work up a sugar high demands an encore! Not wanting to disappoint them I break open some new bags of skittles filling back up the bowl and start the process over again. However realizing that many people in the rows further back never got any candy the first time I allow them to pass on the candy 50 times. This time if no one eats it I ask them to toss the leftovers toward the lobby entrance in the rear of the auditorium. This time the candy left here makes up diffuse transmission. There is a lot less candy than what we started with (hence even greater loss of light) and a very large proportion of green Skittles (giving the appearance of a very high chroma green)

Diffuse Transmission

CONCLUSION

Very often the phenomenon of diffuse transmission causes us to see beautiful glows of high chroma on an object or in spots throughout a scene. Accurately understanding what is occurring helps in capturing these glows with paint ( through "relative" relationships of color or "absolute" color matches). Getting this effect right communicates to the viewer the type of material being represented, giving a "truthful" or "realistic" effect and can also be beautiful in an aesthetic sense at the same time.

Thanks for taking a look!

The Composition of Light and J. G. Vibert

2010-07-25T13:43:00.000-07:00

(UPDATE 10/27/11 -For French translation of this post please click "here.")
I was recently reading "The Science of Painting" by J. G. Vibert and came across a section where he discusses understanding the local color of an object in terms of the color spectrum of light and which wavelengths are absorbed vs. reflected. Here is a brief excerpt:

"If, on the contrary, a body sends back a part of the light received, and decomposes the rest, the colour of the coloured ray or of the mixture of coloured rays which it will send back will be of a colour more or less light, according to the quantity of light sent back.

Example: —A body which sends back the half of the light received, decomposing the remainder, and sending back only the red ray, gives the impression of half-white and a seventh of half-red, i.e. pink."

J. G. Vibert, The Science of Painting, trans. (from 8th edition) and ed. J. G. Vibert (London: Percy Young, 1892), 22

Online text of book:
http://books.google.com/books?id=LO8DAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=The+science+of+painting+vibert&source=bl&ots=VGmKXHT7wr&sig=D__AAeHVIyvRXcOwfiA4uYgFh14&hl=en&ei=IjdMTIGxOoS8lQeNwMj4DQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CBcQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q&f=false

Images of J. G. Vibert's work:
http://www.artrenewal.org/pages/artist.php?artistid=134
I found the text interesting because I sometimes think of a model which examines the light wavelengths present to keep track of the appearance of an object's color (in terms of hue, value and chroma). I make use of this model both in my own work and also in my teaching and thought I might share some of that information here.

I should point out that this model is not entirely truthful when dealing with the resulting color we perceive based upon the composition of light. I will endeavor to clarify this problem later in the post. Despite this flaw, as a model, it consistently works to keep track of how the color of an object appears to change based on the light it receives and then reflects.

As I have discussed in previous posts, light is composed of many different wavelengths and for our model I am going to classify them into 6 groups, namely red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet

(Note: This is different from Vibert who uses 7 colors—perhaps influenced by the writings of Newton.)

Newton's Color Wheel

To visualize the model I think of the colors in the form of a bar graph. All of the bars together add up to 100%. However, each bar individually only contributes about 16.7%. If all colors of light are present in a very high degree this translates to appearing very light in value. In this same scenario because all wavelengths are present they will neutralize one another giving the appearance of a neutral (achromatic) color. In this situation the resulting color would appear white.

(Note: The percentages of light in the diagrams and the resulting color are highly approximated. They are mainly for offering a rough visualization of the concept being discussed)

The absence of light would of course appear as black.

With less overall light present but all colors in equal proportion the result would still be chromatically neutral but darker in value—giving the appearance of a grey.

Along these lines and speaking in terms of the appearance of objects as composed from their reflected light, rather than the light source itself, Vibert offers the following:

"A body which absorbs part of the light and sends back the rest is grey. The whitest objects, therefore, are only very light grey, and the blackest very dark grey. However, the light which a grey body sends back is the same as that which is sent back by a white body: the difference is merely in quantity."

J. G. Vibert, The Science of Painting, trans. (from 8th edition) and ed. J. G. Vibert (London: Percy Young, 1892), 21

Continuing with the model being presented, if only one color is present the result will be that hue. Because there are no other colors present this color will be at its highest chromatic intensity. However since there is less light present overall it will have darkened in value.

As there is less light of this particular color present it will continue to darken in value and appear to weaken in chroma.

If one color is present in it's full percentage but we add back in the other colors in equal proportion this increase in the amount of light will cause the value to lighten but the chroma to weaken.

In looking at the model it may be useful to imagine the percentage of all colors equally present as equaling that percentage of white, the absence of light as equaling that percentage of black, and the percentage of color(s) present individually (not already included with our white percentage) as equaling the percentage of that color. By then combining these together we get some sense of what the resulting color might be. The following diagram should make this easier to grasp.

It needs to be mentioned that this model of light as it has been presented so far is based on the composition, or mixture, of wavelengths an object would reflect assuming full illumination. With less illumination, such as is found upon planes of an object "turning" from a light source, this "mixture" would be the same, but there would be less of the "mixture" overall. The result would cause the appearance of the local color's mixture to darken in value and weaken in chroma.

I mentioned earlier that there is an untruth with this model. This untruth lies in the fact that our perceptions of colors are due to combinations of various wavelengths so that just because we see a color does not mean that those light waves are actually present. A great example is that the screen you are viewing is composed of only 3 colors of light which are red, green and blue. Despite this you have experienced the color of orange in the diagrams I offered. However for our purposes the model will yield consistent perceptual results in trying to understand the relative changes to the appearance of objects when observing the loss or addition of certain assumed wavelengths—for instance when dealing with reflected light since the reflected light will have a different composition of wavelengths than the original light source.

There are many ways we can use this model to help explain what we see but they are more than I can post at this time. Perhaps in a future post I can use the model to explain particular examples—for instance how the reflected light from an object reflecting back onto itself can cause the object to appear even higher in chroma, even when there is less light present such as in a shadow.

Thanks for taking a look.

"Dollars and Cents"

2010-06-30T16:05:00.000-07:00

For this post I thought I would share a recently finished painting entitled "Dollars and Cents." It is a small piece at only 6" x 12" and was painted in oil on a mounted linen panel.

This particular piece is currently in transit to Nantucket, MA where it will be available for purchase from Cavalier Galleries.

You can visit their website by clicking on the following link:
http://www.cavaliergalleries.com/html/home.asp

Thanks for taking a look.

Update on the Link between Value and Chroma

2010-06-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

(Update 1/18/12) For a French translation of this post please click here for a downloadable PDF file:

http://douglasflynt.com/pdf_for_blog/update_on_the_link_between_value_and_chroma_french_translation.pdf

After my last post I had an e-mail exchange with Dr. David Briggs (who I had referenced in the post). He had some further information to share regarding the subject I was writing about along with some accompanying images. The information he shared concerns the anticipated trajectory through color space that occurs with a loss of light—particularly a distinction between computer color space models such as HSB or HSL and Munsell Color Space.”

HSB, HSL: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HSL_and_HSV

Munsell Color Space: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munsell_color_system

In light of this new information I wanted to share his comments and images. You will find the images directly below his text.

Dr. Briggs said:

"These lines we are drawing represent the set of points where, as brightness varies, the balance of wavelengths remains the same. Technically, these are called lines of uniform "chromaticity". As I've said on Dimensions of Colour, these lines maintain uniform HSB "hue" (H) and "saturation" (S), and appear in YCbCr space (the space I used for many of my illustrations) as perfectly straight lines radiating from the point of zero light energy.

More recently I've been looking into how these lines appear in Munsell space. The Munsell chroma scale fundamentally has a visual basis, and there is no in-built theoretical relationship between chroma and saturation. Nevertheless Ralph Evans reported that when projected onto a hue plane, paths of uniform chromaticity (and therefore uniform saturation) delineate simple straight-line relationships between lightness and chroma (Fig. 1, from Evans, The Perception of Colour, 1974). Surprisingly at first, however, these lines radiate from a point roughly one and a half Munsell value divisions below the Munsell zero value. I believe that this is because the Munsell zero value represents the light energy at the visual threshold of blackness, while the chromaticity lines are radiating from the actual point of zero light energy. Perhaps also surprisingly, for many hues these lines are somewhat curved when viewed on the hue plane; that is, as brightness changes they drift slightly in Munsell, i.e. perceived hue (but not in HSB "hue", H). Zsolt Kovacs' wonderful program drop2color has a facility for factoring in different brightnesses of illumination on paint colours, making it easy to illustrate these paths (Figure 2, 3).

I think an important practical consequence of these relationships is that the shading series for a brightly coloured surface goes nowhere near black paint! (Figure 2). This would explain why black paint is unsatisfactory as the darkest value of strongly coloured objects - for these it seems you might need to use the highest-chroma deep dark you can hit. I'd be very interested to know if you agree."

Figure 1:

Figure 2:

Figure 3:

The implications are that the premise for the trajectories I offered in the post will continue to hold reasonably true in computer color space models such as HSB but that a visualization for this trajectory in Munsell Color Space would be somewhat altered. When visualizing the trajectory in Munsell Color Space we need to visualize a base line trajectory from an object’s local color to a location below Munsell’s zero value. Additionally, a certain allowance would have to be made for some slight hue drifts from a true straight line trajectory.

I hope that others will find this information useful just as I did. Thanks David.

The Link between Value and Chroma

2010-06-13T14:12:00.000-07:00

(Update 1/18/12) For a French translation of this post please click here for a downloadable PDF file:

http://douglasflynt.com/pdf_for_blog/the_link_between_value_and_chroma_french_translation.pdf

Since posting the articles about light on form I have received a number of questions regarding the link between chroma and value. Because of this, I thought I would put together a few diagrams to help illustrate how I think about the two. Please keep in mind they are approximated for illustration purposes only and are limited by my inexperience with the software programs I created them with.

In order to understand how value and chroma are related I first distinguish between the specular and diffuse components of light (which I discussed in the earlier articles). With this distinction I can analyze what is happening to both separately. In areas of diffuse reflection (form-light) the appearance of value and chroma are linked because they both shift with the amount of light the surface receives to begin with. As I previously explained in The Anatomy of Light on Form: Part I:

“As the surface angles away from the light source fewer light rays, or streams of photons, can strike any given unit of surface area. Fewer striking light rays means less light is later re-emitted to carry the information about the local-color of the object to our eye. Absence of light is perceived as darkness or achromatic blackness—as when all lights are turned off. With less light reflecting the local-color back to the viewer's eye the amount of darkness increases causing the local-color's appearance to simultaneously darken in value and weaken in chroma”

http://douglasflynt.blogspot.com/2010/04/anatomy-of-light-on-form.html

It is useful to think of areas composed of specular reflection (like high-lights) as obscuring or overriding the diffuse reflection one would normally see. It is also good to remember that the more light an object receives the greater its potential to display its true local color as long as the areas being viewed are not affected by specular reflections. In areas of form dominated by diffuse reflection the greater amount of light will visually increase the chroma (getting us closer to the object’s true local color) rather than “washing it out,” as is often seen in an overexposed photograph.

Within a color space model such as Munsell color space, once the local color is known (found where the object receives the most light not obscured by specular reflection) a straight line proceeding from that point toward the bottom center (achromatic black) displays the trajectory its appearance will follow as the light diminishes. This path also reveals the linked rate of darkening in value and weakening of chroma that we should expect to see.

For myself I don’t actually chart this trajectory for given objects but approximate it by eye and feel as I paint. This is much in the same way as I might conceive of an object’s vanishing point in space without actually drawing in the orthogonal lines used in perspective drawing.

The following image shows a much approximated rendering of an orange sphere and a slice of color space (again much approximated in both its construction and line trajectory) containing the color pathway the loss of light would create.

The next image instead shows the deviation from that path which would occur if we were to go through a region of specular reflection in the form of a highlight and assuming a achromatic (white) light source. In this highlight region the pathway will move toward the upper center of color space (achromatic white) and then return to the original pathway upon exiting it.

It should be noted that this pathway may in reality be further altered by other factors such as diffuse inter-reflection (reflected light) or diffuse transmission (translucency).

The following images show another example of these pathways for a different local color.

I hope the illustrations I have offered give a sense of how a person might conceptualize the relationship between value and chroma. Thanks for stopping by.

For more authoritative reading on this subject I would highly recommend David Briggs’s website, http://www.huevaluechroma.com/. The following excerpt further addresses what has already been said and also denotes that the main path of diffuse reflection in color space (without other variables) falls along a “line of uniform saturation:”

“If a surface of uniform colour turns progressively away from a single light source, the diffuse reflection from its surface steadily decreases in brightness. We would of course expect to represent this in a painting with a series of colours diminishing in lightness, but what would be the chroma of these colours? The answer lies in the fact that because the colour of the illuminant and the colour of the surface are both constant, the proportion of the different wavelengths in the reflected light will not change. Consequently the hue and saturation of the reflected light remain constant, while the brightness diminishes. The series of colours we use to represent such a surface, here called a shading series, should therefore lie along a line of uniform saturation; such lines radiate from the black point of the colour solid (Figure10.1). Along such a line, chroma decreases steadily as lightness decreases, at the precise rate necessary to keep the saturation of light from the surface constant.”

http://www.huevaluechroma.com/101.php

The Anatomy of Light on Form: Part II

2010-05-29T06:51:00.000-07:00

(Update 1/18/12) For a French translation of this post please click here for a downloadable PDF file:

http://douglasflynt.com/pdf_for_blog/the_anatomy_of_light_part_ii_french_translation.pdf

Now that it has been published I can share with you the second part of a two part article I was asked to write for the Portrait Society of America. It was originally published in the Journal of the Portrait Society of America, Volume XII, Issue No. 47. You can find the first part of the article in my April posts. I hope you enjoy it.

The Anatomy of Light on Form: Part II

In the previous article we stayed much to the physics of what is occurring as light illuminates a form or object, particularly as it concerns our visual perception. In this second part we will look at how this information can be applied through assessment and application. Similar to the great diversity in procedure employed by anatomically informed artists when drawing the figure the information can be applied in a wide variety of ways. For this reason I have decided to offer it based upon some of my own working thoughts and practices. The reader can then adopt, adapt, or reject these thoughts and practices as they see fit.

Color Terminology

As we continue it is necessary to speak in terms of color since the visual artist cannot express light and how it reveals forms without it. I have approached this with an awareness that color terminology varies greatly among artists, especially in the realm of color models and color space, or the arrangement of colors in three dimensions owing to their attributes. The attributes of color that I generally think in terms of are: "hue," a color's quality of being reddish, orangish, yellowish...etc, "value" its lightness or darkness, and chroma, its degree of departure from a particular hue toward a perfectly neutral grey without shifting in value.

Questions and Assessment

When painting, although I have to ask myself about the colors I am seeing and their relationships as a starting point, I feel I can't leave this as my final assessment in determining the correctness of what I have created. I also need to include questions such as: What is happening? What does each mark or stroke of color I put down imply in terms of form and light? And ultimately, does what I have created make sense in terms of how light illuminates form? A similar comparison can be made to an artist drawing the contour of a figure. When doing so they may ask themselves about the tilts and points that compose the contour but ultimately they need to determine if the contour in their drawing correctly reflects the anatomical structure of the figure.

Visualizing the Light Trajectory

I often visualize the spatial relationship between the object and the light. I evaluate the trajectory that the light will travel—imagining lines emitting from the light source touching the object upon various planes. The angle of tangency with which these lines intersect the planes gives me insight into the amount of light they are receiving. (Figure 1)

Even if I can't see the light source, one way I can still assess its trajectory is to look at an object's cast shadow and mentally align a point along its edge with the corresponding, causative, point along the object's terminator (form-shadow line). An example of this in locating the angle of a light source might be to follow an imaginary line from the outer edge of a sundial's shadow up to the top of its needle. A straight line between these two points gives the light's trajectory. For instance, on a portrait the nose and its cast shadow might be utilized to apply this. (Figure 2)

Although a bit too intrusive for portraits another method I've used to check trajectory is to drive a nail into the flat side of a piece of wood like a ruler so that it is perpendicular to its surface. By placing this ruler close to the object I am working from and then tilting the ruler until the cast shadow from the head of the nail perfectly aligns with the nail's base, the tilt of the nail's shaft is now aligned to give the trajectory of the light. (Figure 3)

Surface Planes in Relation to Light Trajectory

With the light's trajectory established I can examine an object's surface planes in relation to the trajectory. From Part I of the article we know on a surface composed of primarily diffuse reflection, unless obscured by specular reflections or altered by other variables such as local color changes, the more these surface planes face away from the light the more they should tend to appear darker in value and weaker in chroma. This progression begins very slowly out in the lights and then speeds up as we move into the half-tones and finally into the shadows. By considering this for each individual plane, the very subtle value and chroma shifts which are nearly indistinguishable by eye often become much more apparent. This assessment of surface planes and the light trajectory for each of them allows me to express very subtle modulations of value and chroma along with their directional gradations.

Using a Sphere to Visualize Surface Planes in Relation to Light Trajectory

Very often when assessing tilts many artist's compare them to a horizontal and vertical plum line, either real or imagined. This context tends to make their assessments more accurate. In a very similar way the surface planes of an object can be compared to a sphere (often thought of with some degree of faceting) under the same lighting conditions. By assessing a surface plane on the object and comparing it with a surface plane on the sphere that has the same spatial orientation, the sphere gives context to the plane and clearly allows a judgment to be made whether or not it is receiving a lot of light or very little light. This then translates to a clearer sense of what its value and chroma should be relative to other planes. In this way surface planes can also be easily assessed as belonging to a region of light, halftone or shadow. (Figure 4)

The use of a sphere also allows for the comparison of multiple surface planes on an object to see relative color relationships. For example two surface planes on an object may appear visually quite similar in value but once both have been assessed as planes on a sphere it often becomes quite obvious which is lighter and which is darker according to how much light they receive.

Painting Dark to Light or Light to Dark Examining Diffuse Reflection

Whether painting broadly or tightly, the examination of diffuse reflection from either dark to light or light to dark is often a helpful sequence for me. This consideration allows me to anticipate what is likely to happen as I move across the object either away from the light or toward the direction of light. Assuming that I am working in an area of a single local-color, as I progress across the surface from one plane to the next, based upon the light on the form I can anticipate whether it should be lighter or darker in value and stronger or weaker in chroma than the previous plane and skew the mixture(s) on my palette in that direction.

Small pools of paint can be created on the palette one next to the other, each color representing the amount of light a particular plane is reflecting. By placing these pools next to each other on the palette even very delicate modulations of color can be detected and any radical break in the trajectory of the sequence of hue, value or chroma stand out. (Figure 5)

In addition, painting this way allows for the construction of one section of form at a time. In doing this, each section can be evaluated to see if it correctly conveys the form of the object and makes sense in terms of how light illuminates it.

Conclusion

Although this article is limited, both parts focus upon the anatomy of light on form. The expression of this, consciously or unconsciously, is part of every representational artist's consideration. Part I offers a scientific base to be built upon through knowledge and experience. Part II offers ideas for the unitization and conveyance of that science which can be made to serve artistic creativity depending upon individual artistic genius and need. Together they offer points for consideration so that ultimately our thoughts and execution are clearer as we not only see but also understand the why of the representational creative process.

The Optical and Conceptual: Components of Perception.

2010-05-15T19:13:00.000-07:00

(Update 1/18/12) For a French translation of this post please click here for a downloadable PDF file:
http://douglasflynt.com/pdf_for_blog/_the_optical_and_conceptual_french_translation.pdf

For this post I thought I would share a bit about a distinction that addresses problem solving for the artist in terms of how they "see." It involves two fundamental components that make up visual perception. I have come to know these components as "conceptual" and "optical." I have seen others allude to the same concepts using terms such as impressionistic (optical) and classical (conceptual).

One of my favorite art books, The Practice and Science of Drawing by Harold Speed, has a statement which I have often felt sums up these components quite well:

"We have seen that there are two extreme points of view from which the representation of form can be approached, that of outline directly related to the mental idea of form with its touch association on the one hand, and that of mass connected directly with the visual picture on the retina on the other."

Harold Speed, The Practice and Science of Drawing (New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1972) 80.

In the same book the author cites work by Michelangelo and Degas to further exemplify the distinction between the two concepts by offering the following (I have supplied an image for each artist although they are not the same images referred to in the book):

"In the Michael Angelo the silhouette is only the result of the overlapping of rich forms considered in the round. Every muscle and bone has been mentally realized as a concrete thing and the drawing made as an expression of this idea. Note the line rhythm also; the sense of energy and movement conveyed by the swinging curves; and compare with what is said later (page 162) about the rhythmic significance of swinging curves."

"Then compare it with the Degas and observe the totally different attitude of mind in which this drawing has been approached. Instead of the outlines being the result of forms felt as concrete things, the silhouette is everywhere considered first, the plastic sense (nowhere so great as in the other) being arrived at from the accurate consideration of the mass shapes."

Harold Speed, The Practice and Science of Drawing (New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1972) 66.

I sometimes like to think of the optical as the data our eye sees. It is compiled of non-representational shapes (masses) of patterns and color. It is associated with the 2-dimensional picture plane or an impression upon the retina. In contrast the conceptual is the mental understanding or visualization of what is being seen. It is the understanding of an object in terms of how the mind comprehends it based off prior experience or knowledge. It is often simplified or idealized to it make it easier to grasp. It is often associated with 3-dimentional, spatial, geometric and structural ways of thinking and problem solving. When this optical data is filtered through our conceptual understanding the result is our perceptional experience.

Ok, so why is all of this important. Well whether they are conscious of it or not it defines for many artists how they look at things and choose what to look for. Although greatly oversimplified, I have previously described impressionistic painters and classical painters thusly:

"The impressionist collects the data they see and presents the data to the viewer, who then draws a conclusion while the classical painter collects the data they see, draws a conclusion, and then presents the conclusion to the viewer."

More particularly when "seeing" how do these concepts define what artist's look for? Do they look for shapes(optical) or forms(conceptual)? Do they focus on the edges between shapes(optical) or the form's morphology between planes(conceptual)? Do they calculate the lightness or darkness of a stroke of paint by relating the values of various shapes(optical), or mentally visualizing the decay of light over a form(conceptual)? When they utilize a plum line, is it visualized structurally inside the object(conceptual) or at the picture plane like a line drawn on a window(optical)? When they start to draw a head do they start with the shapes they see(optical) or with some structural construct such as an egg form(conceptual)?

Realistically I don't think any artist's work is wholly formed conceptually or optically—although philosophically many seem to favor one approach over the other. For myself I think that all of the questions posed above, both optical and conceptual, are useful. I assume that they should lead me to the same conclusion. Yet that conclusion is formed by meeting my conceptually understood experience thus grouping me more as a classical painter as I previously defined it.

There is so much more that could be said on this simple distinction. However for the readers who are artists I hope it may make you more aware of how you see and for the art collector and enthusiast I hope it will give you more insight into the thoughts of the artists whose work you enjoy.

Just a little food for thought.

An Addendum passage from Harold Speed:

I have included a larger passage below from Harold Speed's book that ties into what has already been said. I wanted to add it on because it has been insightful to me but I couldn't see a good way of working it into what I wrote above.

"To sum up this somewhat rambling chapter, I have endeavoured to show that there are two aspects from which the objective world can be apprehended. There is the purely mental perception founded chiefly on knowledge derived from our sense of touch associated with vision, whose primitive instinct is to put an outline round objects as representing their boundaries in space. And secondly, there is the visual perception, which is concerned with the visual aspects of objects as they appear on the retina; an arrangement of colour shapes, a sort of mosaic of colour. And these two aspects give us two different points of view from which the representation of visible things can be approached.

When the representation from either point of view is carried far enough, the result is very similar. Work built up on outline drawing to which has been added light and shade, colour, aerial perspective, &c., may eventually approximate to the perfect visual appearance. And inversely, representations approached from the point of view of pure vision, the mosaic of colour on the retina, if pushed far enough, may satisfy the mental perception of form with its touch associations. And of course the two points of view are intimately connected. You cannot put an accurate outline round an object without observing the shape it occupies in the field of vision. And it is difficult to consider the "mosaic of colour forms" without being very conscious of the objective significance of the colour masses portrayed. But they present two entirely different and opposite points of view from which the representation of objects can be approached. In considering the subject of drawing I think it necessary to make this division of the subject, and both methods of form expression should be studied by the student. Let us call the first method Line Drawing and the second Mass Drawing. Most modern drawing is a mixture of both these points of view, but they should be studied separately if confusion is to be avoided. If the student neglects line drawing, his work will lack the expressive significance of form that only a feeling for lines seems to have the secret of conveying; while, if he neglects mass drawing, he will be poorly equipped when he comes to express form with a brush full of paint to work with."

Harold Speed, The Practice and Science of Drawing (New York: Dover Publications Inc., 1972) 47-49.

Doing an Oil-Transfer

2010-05-01T16:47:00.000-07:00

(Update 1/18/12) For a French translation of this post please click here for a downloadable PDF file:

http://douglasflynt.com/pdf_for_blog/doing_an_oil_transfer_french_translation.pdf

In response to my last two posts I have received questions regarding how I transfer my drawings to my linen. I have done different things over the years but usually these days I do an oil-transfer. The main reason I like doing an oil-transfer is that it doesn't introduce any other materials such as charcoal or graphite into the painting.

Here are instructions for how to do an oil-transfer. The content has been taken from a handout I made up for my painting workshops:

OIL PAINT TRANSFER PROCESS:

Douglas Flynt © 2009, all rights reserved

Here are the supplies you will need:

-Low Tack Masking Tape or Drafting Tape
-Red Ball Point Pen
-Mahl Stick or Bridge (to rest your hand on)
-Palette
-Large Bristle Brush
-Raw Umber (oil paint)

Step 1. Take a good photocopy (the darker the lines the better) of your drawing (or the drawing itself if the paper is not too thick) and hold it up to a light so that the image is facing away from you and toward the light. On the backside of the paper (not the side with the image) roughly outline the areas you will need to apply oil paint to, so that you don't have to cover the entire back of the paper.

Step 2. Put out some raw umber on your palette (do not add anything to it). Using a large bristle brush, dry brush or scumble (scrub) the paint onto the back of your photocopy (the side without the image) in the areas you outlined in step "1." Try for an even, fairly thin coat.

Step 3. Place your photocopy on your canvas or linen with the oil side face down, touching the canvas or linen. Be careful to keep the drawing aligned so that your image is not crooked. With your image carefully placed, securely tape one side of the paper to keep it from moving.

Step 4. Trace over your drawing using a ball point pen. A red pen makes it easier to keep track of where you have traced. Be careful not to rest your hand on the drawing—instead rest your hand on your mahl stick as you trace. Periodically (and carefully) flip up your image to make sure the transfer is working.

Step 5. With the tracing done, remove the photocopy and the tape. Allow the canvas to dry overnight—or more preferably, a few days.

Preliminary Drawings

2010-04-23T19:55:00.000-07:00

(Update 1/18/12) For a French translation of this post please click here for a downloadable PDF file:

http://douglasflynt.com/pdf_for_blog/preliminary_drawings_french_translation.pdf

For most of my paintings I first start with a careful preliminary pencil drawing. These drawings have relatively little shading. They are generally reduced to linear designs that I can later transfer to a linen for painting. I don't see them as finished works within themselves but only as one stage in the process of making a painting. They give me a chance to investigate the structure of the objects as well as interesting two dimensional linear patterns and shapes within the composition. Simple subjects may only take a few hours while complex pieces can take many days.

Below are two preliminary drawings and the subsequent paintings that resulted. The drawings have been increased in contrast so that they are easier to view.

Thanks for taking a look!

Still Life Painting Demonstration:

2010-04-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

(Update 1/18/12) For a French translation of this post please click here for a downloadable PDF file:

http://douglasflynt.com/pdf_for_blog/still_life_painting_demonstration_french_translation.pdf

Back in March I hosted a two week "Still Life Painting Workshop" out of my studio. The following images are from the demonstration piece I worked on throughout the workshop. It was not fully finished by the end of the workshop and so I completed it afterwards. I estimate that it took about 58 hours in total time from beginning to end. Yes all that time for a small 9" x 12" painting.

Previous to this image I did a careful linear drawing on paper. In this first image the drawing has been transferred (using an oil transfer) to an oil primed stretched linen (which was previously toned). After the transfer dried I did a raw umber "wash-in" to quickly get a sense of the form and structure. It is keyed much lighter than what the final values will be.

The completed wash in. I also used white to lighten some areas slightly.

This image shows the start of my ébauche or first block-in with color. This is still an under-painting and will all be repainted. As with the wash in it is still keyed slightly lighter than what the final values will be. It can be thought of as a rough draft—the content has been stated but still needs proof reading.

In this image some of the painting has received a final pass (the proof reading). I carefully rendered each object, form by form, finishing as I went.

And of course the final painting. Thanks for taking a look!

The Anatomy of Light on Form

2010-04-14T07:27:00.000-07:00

(Update 1/18/12) For a French translation of this post please click here for a downloadable PDF file:

http://douglasflynt.com/pdf_for_blog/the_anatomy_of_light_on_form_french_translation.pdf

How light works is one of the "sciences" (like anatomy or perspective) that a representational artist should be somewhat familiar with. It is a subject that I have spent a good amount of time studying and is something I conceptualize during very painting I work on.

The following is the first part of a two part article I was asked to write for the Portrait Society of America. It was originally published in the Journal of the Portrait Society of America, Volume XI, Issue No. 46.

The Anatomy of Light on Form: Part I
by Douglas Flynt ©2009

To better understand the appearance of objects, including their color relationships, artists need to study light and how it interacts with forms or objects. Understanding what is occurring gives an advantage of clarity, both in thought and expression, over the artist who does not possess the same knowledge—much in the same way that the figurative artist who knows anatomy is at a clear advantage over the artist who does not. This article's first part focuses more on what is occurring as light interacts with an object, while the second part will focus more on how artists can apply this knowledge.

Visible Light

Visible light represents a small portion of the electromagnetic spectrum that is observable to the human eye. Many people will recall at some point seeing a prism used to create a rainbow through the process of refraction. This demonstrates that visible light is actually composed of many different wavelengths—starting with the higher frequencies of violet and then shifting through blue, green, yellow, orange and finally into red. The combination of these wavelengths, in their various proportions, make up the color of light we perceive.

Temperature of Light

Light is often referred to by "temperature," as measured by the Kelvin scale (represented as "K"). Lower temperatures start with red and increase through orange, yellow, green, and finally to blue. However, because of visual color associations artists refer to the lower temperatures (toward red) as warm and higher temperatures (toward blue) as cool. An incandescent bulb is considered "warm" at approximately 3000K, while sunlight is considered only "slightly warm" at approximately 5000K and north light is considered "cool" at approximately 7000K or higher.

Specular and Diffuse Components of Light

When light strikes an object some of the light is reflected directly from the surface of the object in the form of "specular reflection" simply known to artists as glare or a "highlight." This highlight is composed of the same wavelengths that originally struck the object and so retains the color of the light source. (Metals are an exception with some absorption of the original wavelengths causing the highlight to take on the color of the metal).

The remaining light that does not reflect from the surface penetrates into the object where it is reflected within the material multiple times in a process known as "subsurface scattering." During these multiple reflections within the material some of the wavelengths are absorbed by its atoms, usually re-emitted later as infrared wavelengths that we feel as heat. Unless they pass through the material, the unabsorbed wavelengths are eventually reflected back out of the material as "diffuse reflection," more commonly know to artists as "form-light." This diffuse reflection generally defines the object's "local-color."

The combination of these diffuse and specular components, and the degree to which each is present, makes up the appearance of the object. Specular literally means "mirror like" so that an object that shows only specular reflection (consequently no diffuse reflection) has a mirror like appearance, reflecting anything in the room that is emitting light. However, most objects display both specular and diffuse reflection with the specular reflection obscuring the diffuse reflection in places. The degree of this obscuring is dependent on the roughness or smoothness of the object's surface; and it's location is dependent upon the location of the viewer relative to both the object and the light source.

The light composing a specular reflection is reflected from the surface of an object at the same angle that it strikes the surface (angle of incidence equals angle of reflection). If this striking angle aligns to reflect the light into the viewer's eye they will see this glare, if not, they will see only the light comprising the diffuse reflection. (Figure 1)

Figure 1

Because of this spatial geometry highlights appear to move as the viewer moves—changing the spatial geometry between themselves, the object, and the light-source. This is not the case for diffuse reflection which appears the same regardless of the viewer's location. This isotropic quality is because of the scattering that occurred within the material causing the light to exit at many different directions.

The smoother the object's surface (as with a glossy surface) the more the highlight will appear to hold together in a single brilliant unit. A rougher surface with its micro-facets (such as a matte surface) will reflect the specular light rays in numerous directions breaking up the highlight so that it appears weaker and weaker, or not at all, as it spreads out over a wider area.

When working from life these qualities are useful in determining what one is seeing. If it appears to move across the object as you move, it is a highlight, if not, it is form-light. Highlights are the color of the light source (except metals) and, as they diffuse, we see the local-color of the object as form-light.

The Darkening of Form-light's Local-color Through Angle and Distance

When studying form-light, the amount of light any given area of the object receives to begin with determines how true the local-color can be perceived. With form-light, the more an object faces the light source the more it will reveal its local-color.

As the surface angles away from the light source fewer light rays, or streams of photons, can strike any given unit of surface area (Figure 2).

Figure 2

Fewer striking light rays means less light is later re-emitted to carry the information about the local-color of the object to our eye. Absence of light is perceived as darkness or achromatic blackness—as when all lights are turned off. With less light reflecting the local-color back to the viewer's eye the amount of darkness increases causing the local-color's appearance to simultaneously darken in value and weaken in chroma (sometimes described as a temperature shift).

The rate at which this occurs is not a steady progression. The light diminishes exponentially with the rate of decrease in light accelerating as the object's surface angles further from the light-source. To visualize this rate of decrease imagine a globe placed directly under a skylight so that the "terminator," or shadow line, is at the line of the equator. A 10 degree move away from the North pole toward the equator would suffer a 2 percent loss of light, while the same 10 degree distance just before the equator would suffer a loss of 17 percent (Figure 3).

Figure 3

When the surface of an object turns away from the plane most facing the light by 60 degrees, the amount of light present will have decreased by exactly half. Prior to this critical angle the colors perceived may be termed "lights" while after this angle the colors perceived are often termed "halftones" (Figure 3). Within the halftones, right before the terminator is reached, this increasing rate of light drop-off can be accelerated by a phenomenon known as a "penumbra," where the surface is no longer geometrically exposed to the entire aperture of the light source (Figure 4).

Figure 4

Additionally, an increased distance between the surface of an object and the light source also contributes to an absence of light. If the light source is far enough away (such as the sun) all the rays striking an object will be approximated as parallel. However, because light rays radiate from their source, spreading apart from one other, a unit of surface area moved further from the light will experience fewer light rays striking it (Figure 5).

Figure 5

Again, there is now less diffuse reflection to carry the information about the local-color of the object to our eye causing a perceived darkening in value and weakening in chroma.

Additional Phenomena and Conclusion

There are still a number of light based phenomena that could be discussed such as "specular transmission" and "diffuse transmission" which distinguish a material as being "transparent" or "translucent" respectively. Additionally, we find that "specular inter-reflection" and "diffuse inter-reflection" are known respectively to artists as "reflections," and "reflected-light." However, the length of this article does not allow for them or many other subtleties. It should be noted that what has been stated has been catered toward visual artists and should not be taken as a definitive stance regarding the subject of light but more of an orientation about how it shapes our perceptions of the objects we see.

Introductory Post

2010-04-11T15:49:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Welcome to my new blog. I am hoping to use this blog as a forum to share artwork, art tutorials, information on my creative process and other art related thoughts that may be of interest to both collectors and fellow artists.

I hope to get on a schedule of posting on a regular basis.

Thank you for taking a look!

-Douglas

Douglas Flynt

More French Translations for Earlier Posts

2012 Florida Workshops

French Translations for Posts on Ellipses

Accurate Ellipses- Part 1

Expanding on Accurate Ellipses - Part 2

Expanding on Accurate Ellipses

Accurate Ellipses

Returning to the Blog—A Few New Paintings to Share

My Studio Lights

Workshops in 2011

Using a Sphere to Understand Light on Complex Forms

DIFFUSE TRANSMISSION AND TASTING THE RAINBOW

The Composition of Light and J. G. Vibert

"Dollars and Cents"

Update on the Link between Value and Chroma

The Link between Value and Chroma

The Anatomy of Light on Form: Part II

The Optical and Conceptual: Components of Perception.

Doing an Oil-Transfer

Preliminary Drawings

Still Life Painting Demonstration:

The Anatomy of Light on Form

Introductory Post