Portraying a bright sunny day
Each artist and teacher has his own pet method for getting any art
student to start painting in water colour, which seem best for him.
There is no single ‘best way’ to get going.
Teachers have to try several ways and go with the methods that seem
to accomplish their purposes during the get-acquainted periods. When
composing a sunny scene, remember that either the bright warm areas
should dominate, or the cool dark shadow areas. If there is an even
spread of lights and darks, the effect of bright sunshine will be lost.
Shadows and colours
On a sunny day there’s a lot of ultraviolet light around, and
blue-violet light rays are often reflected in the shadows. If you really
look hard at the branches of a tree, for example, you may be surprised
to see that they have a reddish-mauve tinge.
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Remember
* Don’t allow your brain to
blind your eyes.
* It is instructive to paint
only the shape of shade and leave all sunlit surfaces as
white paper.
* The value relationship of
light and shade can be altered to create desired effects.
* Good painting is not a
product of sweat or time.
* Identify your goals and
objectives and keep them in mind when painting. |
 It may sound like a contradiction, but shadows play an important role
in conveying an impression of bright sunlight. Everything the sun hits
becomes warmer and more intense in colour, whereas objects in shadow are
correspondingly cool.
Adjacent warm and cool colours have the effect of intensifying each
other, and this creates a luminous glow that spells sunshine. Selection
of colours in a painting is dictated by the method of working. Colour
can be realistic, adhearing nature as closely as possible; or it can be
subjective, with the artist using colour he feels is right at that time.
Between these two extremes exists a wide range of possibilities,
depending on the purpose of the artist.
When painting a scene bathed in bright sunshine, many beginners
complain often very strong contrasts of light and shadow that occur.
Working outdoors, one is easily ‘blinded’ by the bright sunlight, which
makes it difficult to judge colours and tones accurately. As to the
problem of a sunny day, whenever possible try not to paint with the sun
directly on your paper. I have done many a demonstration in the direct
sun when I’d rather be in the shade.
When painting water colours outdoor in mid-summer there are obvious
difficulties. I learnt to avoid working in the middle of the day which
the hot sun directly overhead, it was not only much cooler before ten or
after five but the lighting and shadows were more interesting. Talking
of shadows, with a partly clouded sky the sun is alternately going in
and coming out, so wait for a period of sunlight, leave the rest of the
painting unhurried. The big difficulty with water colour in a hot
country like Sri Lanka is the speed of drying, even in the shade.
Observe the painting I’ve done titled ‘Sunny day’. It’s a village
scene more open land. The composition of the painting is basically good
with the hut on the left forming a ‘frame’ for the scene beyond. The
huge tree behind the hut with dark tones make the sunlit areas sparkle
through contrast. At times the composition presented by nature is not
always ideal.
You must choose your viewpoint carefully and be prepared to alter the
arrangement of things if necessary in the interests of making a more
balanced and a coherent image.
Even the clouds are designed to lead the eye down to the mountains.
The clouds are grouped and massed to form a strong, coherent shape. I
have introduced a bullock cart on to bring depth making more a balanced
picture.
Three main families
There are three main families of clouds, namely cirrus – a thin
whispy high cloud, cumulus, - a white wooly type which has a light top
where the sun catches it, with a shadow underneath, the third type is
nimbus, which is a rain cloud and usually means business. Of course in
reality, things are more complex, and you get the various types of
overlapping.
Note in the painting done here titled ‘Sunny Day’, I have created a
sense of atmospheric perspective in the sky, helps to think of as a vast
dome stretched over the landscape rather than a mere backdrop to it.
Patches of warm blues bring the foreground sky closer.
The sky isn’t a uniform blue all over. Due to the effects of
atmospheric perspective it appears brighter and warmer directly
overhead, becoming increasingly cooler and paler colour as it nears the
horizon.
The picture is composed, with a very low horizon line, makes us feel
involved in the scene as if we were actually standing and looking up at
the heaped clouds advancing towards us.
Note how the clouds overlap each other, creating an interesting
diversity of shape and design. Here it had captured the glare of the
warm sun shine in a village.
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