Watercolor: Florals & Botanicals

Playing with Light and Shadow

with Joan Hansen

I SO ENJOY SEEING THE INTERPLAY of light and shadow on objects that I’m always eager to reproduce it in my paintings. In fact, sometimes it is the way the light hits a flower that attracts me more than the actual flower itself. When a subject is illuminated from the front, the shadows are minimal but the colors are vibrant. Light coming from behind silhouettes the subject, creating a halo effect around it, and side lighting creates dramatic shadows that are often full of fascinating negative shapes, like those in the two paintings on the opposite page.

Using Negative Space Creatively

Just what are negative shapes? they are the shapes created by the space (negative space) around and between objects; ...