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WIP - shadows, direct or glazing?
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Message
Posted
Hello, looking for opinions and advice please. I’ve started this painting of Alicante town hall at night with the intention of contrasting the strong shadows on the front of the building with the brightly lit courtyard through the archway. I’ve blocked it in using acrylics and have started with oils on the balconies at the top. I’ve painted the shadows under the balconies directly but looking at them today I think they look a bit flat. Would a better option be to paint the stonework first and then glaze the shadows over? Thanks
Posted
It looks dead! You haven’t told us how you arrived at this particular black, this is important.
I always prefer to glaze over an existing colour, but this isn’t necessarily the only way of course. Try your suggestion out on some scrap board and you’ll be able to judge what’s best, but don’t glaze with black, shadows aren’t black but more likely to lean towards blue/purple hues.
The archway is an issue also, this would look better in the same colour/glaze as the other shadows - I would also expect to see a similar deep shadow on the ground underneath the arch, perhaps at a slight angle depending on your light source, which is pretty much overhead, and isn’t the most interesting position to be honest! (you could glaze straight over those ochre colours).
If you’re using a photograph as reference as I suspect, use it for reference only and don’t slavishly copy it, do your own thing!
Posted
Darren, I like your painting, like the view through the archway. It's not easy, this painting lark😉. I often get a feeling of disappointment at some point during a painting. But I'm tenacious, I don't bin things. With oil or acrylic you can always correct....sometimes you have to step away and think. Shadows are often an important part of a painting, sometimes it's all about them, ,the depth of them, the colour of them. Take some time away from your own painting and look how others have tackled shadows - google "vibrant shadows" for example. I love how Karl Terry uses colour in his shadows, especially his sand dunes. You will also find that the colours in the shadows are reflected elsewhere in the painting, bringing it together as a whole. Good luck and let us know how you get on.
Posted
I think your problem here is that you have two different sources of light, which are different colours. Added to that, the archway is partially lit, on the right by the light in the distance. as well as which I think you have reflections on the top of the arch and on the right. I would look at a black and white version of the reference photo to get it right and find out which is the brightest light and which is the darkest dark. I would also look at a colour version with the colour saturation increased to work our which colours are where. Not an easy subject at all. Is the front of the building in moonlight?
Posted
I really like the subject, but it does look a bit like (if working from a photo) that flash was used. The focus here is the view through the archway, and at the moment, there is not a huge difference in light / tone between beyond the arch and the building before it. I would really deepen the foreground, and make the view beyond the archway so much more vibrant, but still maintain the details you have applied to the front buildings.
I've never painted in oils, so can't comment in that respect!
Posted
Thanks all for taking the time to reply. You're correct Linda the front of the building was lit by a bright moonlight, so my idea was to capture the front and the shadows in a much cooler way to contrast with the warmer light from the courtyard.
The shadows are a mix of burnt umber and ultramarine, which I tried to steer towards the blue side. I also tried to lighten it as you move to the right because I think there's actually some reflected light from the courtyard. The only colours used so far for the balconies and shadows are those two plus a little of each of titanium white, raw sienna and sap green.
The reference is indeed a photo, one I took back in 2019 in the good old days, because I knew I wanted to paint it. It's not however a like for like copy, I've missed out the wheelie bins!
What I may do based on your replies is paint the stonework, over the existing shadows; watch some Karl Terry and Will Kemp if I can find them; and do some practice runs before having a go at glazing them back in again.
Thanks again, watch this space!
Posted
Good advice from everyone there, the problem is the oddities of the lighting - you need a strong contrast which you haven't yet achieved between the foreground areas (of which there are two, which is difficult) and the brightly lit courtyard beyond - you can't really tell that it is brightly lit, because there's nothing to contrast it with tonally.
Drawing's good, no doubt you'll get there.
Posted
I thought I'd post an update for those kind enough to comment previously. I'm left with the courtyard to do, some darkening of the walls lower to the ground, some small details, and maybe some glazing to make the stonework slightly cooler on the left but I'm feeling happier with it.
Edited
by Darren Franklin
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