Color Journal

Sky Blue: The Sky is not a flat, even blue. There are two overlapping systems of color gradations in  a daytime sky. Solar Glare: governed by the proximity to the sun. Horizon Glare: The angle above the horizon. Near the sun clouds have darker centers and light edges. (Left) (right) Lightest at the tops or centers. Darker at the sides and the bases Smaller clouds are not as white because there is not as much vapor to reflect light.  - Sky color gradates in value, hue, and chroma. These two systems interact with each other causing every patch of sky to gradate in two different directions at once.  - As we move from the zenith to the horizon, the sky generally tends to get lighter, because we’re looking through more atmosphere.  - As we approach the sun, the color gets lighter and warmer because a great volume of white light is scattered at shallow angles by large particles in the atmosphere.  - The point of the darkest, dee...

Transmitted Light: - When Sunlight travels through a thin, semitransparent material, the light becomes richly colored. Light that bounces off the surface is fairly dull by comparison. A, "stained-glass window effect" Explanation of light passing through the leafs of a cabbage plant: 1. Transmitted light, with intense chroma or saturation in the yellow-green range. 2. The leaf in shadow, facing downward. This is the darkest green, and would be even darker if it wasn't picking up reflected light from the adjacent leaf seen edge-on. 3. The leaf in shadow, facing upward. These ‘up-facing planes’ are blue-green, because they are picking up the blue light from the sky. 4. Sunlight reflecting off the top surface of the leaf. This is the highest tone or value, and the most textural, especially where it transitions to shadow. But the chroma is not very intense, because most of the light bounces off the waxy cuticle of the leaf. Subsurface Scattering: - Light enter...

The Form Principle: One of the things that I have noticed while reading this chapter of Gurney's book is the emphasis he places on doing things to stay true to the rules of light and color, but also the importance of giving your art the impact that it necessitates. One of the quotes that demonstrates this is, "Keeping the Core intact--or painting it in even if you can't see it--can give the form more impact." In the same section where he says this he also talks about how you do not have to draw in every single shadow texture when a plane is in full shadow. Half Shadow: In this section he says, "One way to create drama, especially with a vertical form, is to light the top half and lave the rest in shadow" Here again is the theme of impact and creative liberty. Occlusion Shadow: Shadows that occur wherever two forms touch each other or wherever a form touches a floor. Three-Quarter Lighting: This is the traditional lighting for portraiture art. A l...