A Sunny Afternoon

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Comment by Jessica Futerman on May 28, 2014 at 7:03: That's a very detailed & clear answer, Michael, thanks very much! I will take some time to study this & then make some changes on the painting. I have been doing value mapping, posterising images, which I was learning about on VAA & I guess it's easy to get a bit carried away with this concept! Learning to paint is great fun; thanks for all your help!

Comment by Michael J. Severin on May 28, 2014 at 1:03: Hi Jessica. A good question. What would be seen in "real life" is not the criteria ....as artist we can "bend" the truth at any time. In your painting, it is about the value relationship of that dark shadow with it surrounding values. The fact that the walls are much lighter, makes your already dark shadow much darker. Also, the transition is so abrupt that it looks like the street has caved in and we are hanging above a precipice. The relationship between that lighter, front part of your shadow, and the value of the walls, is the correct value relationship. You are correct about strong value contrast creating drama ..but relationships between the values must be kept. Actually, you could go slightly darker value on the front shadow and gradate to a slightly darker value as you come forward ..toward us. While you were gone, I posted a seascape painting looking out from a cave ...take a look at that and note the value relationships within the cave. Even though you mentioned that you liked the light on the far wall ....keeping the light family and the dark family in their appropriate places is important. Here is my own JV "tho shalt not" ....The darks stay in the dark family, and the lights stay in the light family ..and they shall never cross over. A couple of more points Jessica. Where lines exit the painting ..such as the left wall in shadow ..is a good place for a lost and found edge between the bottom of the wall and the shadow ..that wall to shadow transition is a perfect place for the lost edge ..especially as it exits the painting. Last thing: your dark leaves on the upper right ...take a few more of those dark leaves and break up the straight line ..paint a few random leaves in front of your light wall ..there is a potential for creating a great design pattern there. Okay, I hope that answered your question?

Comment by Jessica Futerman on May 27, 2014 at 17:47: Michael, I have a question, if you see this & have time to answer: I deliberately made the foreground shadow very dark, as I thought it made the painting dramatic & gave the shadows interesting shapes. Does the dark shadow take away from the painting because it is not what would be seen in real life?

Comment by Jessica Futerman on May 27, 2014 at 17:34: Lovely to log in this morning & see all these encouraging comments! Thank you very much, Cristina, Robin, Silvana, Rose & Julia!

Comment by Julia Childers on May 27, 2014 at 13:23: Nice work, Jessica!

Comment by Rose Wang on May 27, 2014 at 13:08: very nice

Comment by Silvana M Albano on May 27, 2014 at 12:11: Really inviting! Getting into hadows and lights... difficult topic....!

Comment by Robin Sage on May 27, 2014 at 7:55: You have some lovely scenes in Israel Jessica and your composition makes it very inviting.

Comment by Cristina Mihailescu on May 27, 2014 at 5:56: A very inviting scene dear Jessica, you have a beautiful style!!

Comment by Jessica Futerman on May 27, 2014 at 5:50: Thanks a lot for the ideas, Michael. I've been studying a little about the colour of shadows & discovering what a complex subject it is. I'll try adding some more colours as you suggest. Actually, I knew that the yellow wall on the far left had too much light, but I liked the colour & the look of the brush stroke so much I just left it!! But you caught that mistake!