Beginning Homework The Color of Shadows 5/9/19

If you are at all interested in creating a convincing illusion of light in your paintings then you'll know that shadows are your friend. Here are a couple of Bob Wade's watercolors that feature bold shadows. He makes good use of them not only to describe light, but also to suggest space.

Look at the color temperature of the shadows cast by the statue on the left and the lone pedestrian. See how they grade from cool to warm as they get farther away from the source?

Notice how dark the artist makes those walls in the background. He goes for maximum value contrast where sunlit wall meets shadowed wall, and he keeps a hard edge between them. In the book where I found these Wade talks about wanting an unmistakeable center of interest there. Did your eye go to that dark meets light place first?

Compare the color of the shadow on the ground in the painting above with that in the photo below. Why is there so much warmth in the ground plane in the photo?

Have some fun interpreting these shadow pix. Exaggerate the colors, adjust the values. Use what we practiced in class to make flawless washes.

Pay attention to warmth and coolness. 

The person who makes the most mistakes wins!