I get hints that the story and the techniques are at play from comments like, “the subject seems to 'pop out' from the background." When that happens, then I feel like I am on the right track and have connected with the viewer. But, this does not happen by accident. The techniques I employ can be lumped into a French term: Repoussoira–loosely translated, “to push back.”
Look at this in process drawing of this Mountain Dog. The effect is
clearly illustrated. There is no question that the mountains are far back in the distance behind this magnificent dog. The drawing just would not look right if the mountains were rendered in the same detail as the subject. The eye would be confused. And here is the communication part. When the eye is confused, so is the message. But, the really interesting part here is that absolute accuracy is not necessary, because even though our brain will pick out the contradictions, as long as you follow certain rules, the eye and the human brain will fill in the gaps.
Most of us know the basic rules:
• Large figures in front (geometric perspective)
• Less detail in back
• Overlap objects
Look at this drawing of the boat on the ocean. A simple piece, but it is the size of the boat, lack of detail in the waves that send the message that the boat is far from our place of viewing. The dark shadow of the boat on the water, the silhouette of the boat itself, gives us clear indication that the light is coming from the sun on the horizon behind the boat.
Now, look at the drawing of the leaf. There is a lot going on here. You can see the dark shadows in the front of the leaf-where is touches the table – where portions of the leaf are starting to roll over another part casting shadows. You are starting to pick up cues that this leaf is probably an old leaf curling up on itself, and perhaps cupping upward.
You are starting to get an idea where the light is coming from by the light/dark contrasts. You now are realizing that parts of the leaf are behind others - that some of the tips in the back are in fact rolling back into the paper away from your view. And you can also get a sense that the leaf is not entirely smooth on its surface – from the spotty light and dark areas. All of these effects are purposefully done to give to you the viewer some sense of the feel and presence of this leaf.
If I were doing a relief carving (I will discuss in a later post) of this leaf from this drawing, the lights and darks would tell me which parts of the leaf would stick out and which parts would be pushed back into the picture (Repussoira).
Look at the old wooden boat. It is because of the use of light and darks you know that this must be an old, well-used boat. You can see the rust from the old nails running down the hull. You might imagine she (boats are she, btw-sorry) is coming in from a long day of fishing as the sun sets behind her. You can see how the light plays on the mast and the shadow on the front of the pilothouse is in shadow. And you can barely see the shoreline in the background.
As an artist develops a piece of work, he or she knows that the objects in the back have less contrast, they are dimmer and their borders become blurred (il mezzo confuso). But, we may not know why. And here is the most interesting part of all—where, I postulate, the border between science and art also becomes blurred.
What we see and experience is the result of a trick our atmosphere plays on us. Something known as “Rayleigh Scattering" - named after the 18th-century physicist Lord Rayleigh (go figure). The great Leonardo DaVinci (artist or scientist?) knew all about this and referred to it as an aerial perspective. Objects in the distance are lighter, less defined, more tightly clustered. Contrast is reduced in the background. And the more atmosphere between the viewer and the object, the more pronounced the effect. Well, it all has to do with those little tiny particles of stuff (smog, dirt, water, etc.) carried in the air and their size in relation to what is know a wavelength of light.
This is why contours are softened – the light “information” is degraded by the earth’s atmosphere – particles in the air smaller than the wavelength of light and therefore they scatter or diffuse the light.
And yes, here lies the reason why the sky is blue. The color BLUE is scattered most (therefore we see it more) because it has a very short wavelength - and is most pronounced closer to the ground because the heavier particles sink (such as fog, smoke, pollution) and there are more of them.
Lastly, but not finally, there is one more technique I love to use in my drawings. It is the practice of including soft and hard edges in a drawing. These soft edges are often referred to as “lost edges.” You can see how they show up in some of the leaf tips, on the mast of the old boat, and on this drawing of the statue of Marcellus, the nephew of Augustus. I could have defined the entire outline of Marcellus, but instead, have rendered the entire left side of the body and drapery soft. In fact, they are nearly invisible. I felt that this technique focused the image, gave it life and in general tells a more interesting story. As it turns out, we humans don’t always need everything detailed out for us. Our brain easily fills in the parts that are not shown and completes the piece. It’s the old saying, sometimes the imagination is the most interesting.
So, here are a few techniques I use. Next time you are at a gallery, museum or art show, take a look. See if you can recognize just how the artist has managed to tell his story. Or not.
A fascinating article, Ralph. Thank you. I will definitely be more attentive to light and shadows in my paintings.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy your explanations about the techniques you use. The drawings are fabulous. Thanks for sharing.
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