Dark and Light. Applications in Life and Art.
Chiaroscuro
1.The treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting.
2.An effect of contrasted light and shadow created by light falling unevenly or from a particular direction on something.
Here are two wonderful examples of this technique.
As seen in the above examples, neither painting would be as effective if the dark wasn't so dark and if the light wasn't as bright. This effect is called Chiaroscuro in art.
Painting very dark with a punch of light is risky. Once you decide on where the light is, it's gotta be bright. Many students want to use just the middle shades so that things blend in more. But if you only use the middle shades, the entire painting is boring.
The effect of the darkest dark next to the lightest light is eye-catching and interesting. There is a reason spot lights are used in theatre. That dark stage with a pop of bright white; it gets the audiences attention.
While working on this post, I went back to look at photos to see if I could find that one perfect piece that would give you a modern example of what I'm talking about. But, Nope. Don't have one. My mom took a picture of my nephew as an newborn 16 years ago and it is a perfect example. Sorry, I don't have a digital copy. Really, it's kind of fitting. The concept of Chiaroscuro isn't complex, we just forget about it. In the end, I had a couple of decent examples, that use dark and light, so here you are. :)
Now that you had your art lesson, you might be wondering how this applies to life. Well... here are my two cents!
Sometime dark times are bad times. Sometimes dark times are lonely times. Sometimes dark times are times when things aren't going the way we had hoped. Sometimes is because we aren't sure where to go. Sometimes it just feels like you are treading water at night.
Yet, what I find most interesting about the dark times is that there can be some very good stuff hidden in the darkness. If you put this art terms again, some of the most beautiful art pieces have all kinds of texture and incredible meaning buried in the depths of a painting. You just have to learn how to see in the dark!
As a theatre person, I have spent countless hours in the dark. I could walk through a pitch black theatre with all kinds of stuff back stage and not trip. I knew where the stuff was sure, but more than that, I had learned how to see in the dark.
Lately, I have felt like I have lost that ability. I know that there is all kinds of good stuff waiting for me, but I had lost it in the darkness. Between job pressures, sick kids and putting a parent in an assisted living facility and all that entailed, life felt dark. Let me clarify for a second... not bad, just all one shade of boring grey.
However, I can say that I figured out what to do. I bought a flashlight. Okay, not figuratively. But I felt like I did. As I posted a few days ago about needing clarity and telling God to please speak... I figured it out. Or maybe God revealed. When you have a flashlight, you are breaking the darkness. Where you break the darkness is your choice. You can shine it directly in front of your feet so that you can make sure you don't trip on something. You can shine it on your face and scare others and give yourself a headache. You can keep it at your side and not turn it on. Or can choose to aim the beam of light ahead of you and let it cast a path of light for you. The thing with a flashlight is that you aren't getting rid of the darkness, you are CHOOSING where to highlight the contrast of light and dark!
Yep, it's totally cheezy. But instead of focusing on the issues at hand, I decided to focus on what I wanted to see as a result. Where did I want to go? What did I want to do? What did I want to choose to highlight by having my light touch it. Did I want to waste the light by having it focus on an issue that I can't control? Put in terms like that, it was pretty easy to say NO! I'm not wasting my light on that!!
Here is what I chose. Pretty smart I think!
Chiaroscuro
1.The treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting.
2.An effect of contrasted light and shadow created by light falling unevenly or from a particular direction on something.
Here are two wonderful examples of this technique.
 |
| St Joseph the Carpenter by Georges de La Tour |
 |
| Self Portrait Rembrandt |
Painting very dark with a punch of light is risky. Once you decide on where the light is, it's gotta be bright. Many students want to use just the middle shades so that things blend in more. But if you only use the middle shades, the entire painting is boring.
The effect of the darkest dark next to the lightest light is eye-catching and interesting. There is a reason spot lights are used in theatre. That dark stage with a pop of bright white; it gets the audiences attention.
While working on this post, I went back to look at photos to see if I could find that one perfect piece that would give you a modern example of what I'm talking about. But, Nope. Don't have one. My mom took a picture of my nephew as an newborn 16 years ago and it is a perfect example. Sorry, I don't have a digital copy. Really, it's kind of fitting. The concept of Chiaroscuro isn't complex, we just forget about it. In the end, I had a couple of decent examples, that use dark and light, so here you are. :)
Sometime dark times are bad times. Sometimes dark times are lonely times. Sometimes dark times are times when things aren't going the way we had hoped. Sometimes is because we aren't sure where to go. Sometimes it just feels like you are treading water at night.
Yet, what I find most interesting about the dark times is that there can be some very good stuff hidden in the darkness. If you put this art terms again, some of the most beautiful art pieces have all kinds of texture and incredible meaning buried in the depths of a painting. You just have to learn how to see in the dark!
As a theatre person, I have spent countless hours in the dark. I could walk through a pitch black theatre with all kinds of stuff back stage and not trip. I knew where the stuff was sure, but more than that, I had learned how to see in the dark.
Lately, I have felt like I have lost that ability. I know that there is all kinds of good stuff waiting for me, but I had lost it in the darkness. Between job pressures, sick kids and putting a parent in an assisted living facility and all that entailed, life felt dark. Let me clarify for a second... not bad, just all one shade of boring grey.
However, I can say that I figured out what to do. I bought a flashlight. Okay, not figuratively. But I felt like I did. As I posted a few days ago about needing clarity and telling God to please speak... I figured it out. Or maybe God revealed. When you have a flashlight, you are breaking the darkness. Where you break the darkness is your choice. You can shine it directly in front of your feet so that you can make sure you don't trip on something. You can shine it on your face and scare others and give yourself a headache. You can keep it at your side and not turn it on. Or can choose to aim the beam of light ahead of you and let it cast a path of light for you. The thing with a flashlight is that you aren't getting rid of the darkness, you are CHOOSING where to highlight the contrast of light and dark!
Yep, it's totally cheezy. But instead of focusing on the issues at hand, I decided to focus on what I wanted to see as a result. Where did I want to go? What did I want to do? What did I want to choose to highlight by having my light touch it. Did I want to waste the light by having it focus on an issue that I can't control? Put in terms like that, it was pretty easy to say NO! I'm not wasting my light on that!!
Here is what I chose. Pretty smart I think!
will you lend me your flashlight when I need it? :P
ReplyDeleteMindy