Born in Hereford, educated in Cardiff and London, I am a professional contemporary artist who lives in Derry City and Donegal, Ireland. My work explores how light can focus attention on fleeting moments. By documenting the shadows cast in bright sunshine or by night time street lamps, I seek to catch a moment. As I am interested in painting people and places, intimacy and communities, streets and buildings. I have found myself drawn to and influenced by painters who have a special relationship with colour and light; such as American realists Edward Hopper and Rockwell Kent and British painter David Hockney. I am also drawn to the skies and landscapes of Irish artists such as Paul Henry, and James Hubert Craig.
Paul Weaver is a full-time artist, tutor and demonstrator based in Bristol, UK. Today he takes us through his process for capturing a spring landscape with shadows from the early morning sunshine using acrylic paint.
Morning shadows
The shadows across the road are a key feature, as they help accentuate the morning light. The large tree on the left balances and frames the house, while the road makes an effective lead into the scene. I now felt focused and ready to paint!
The shadows over the road were addedwith Cobalt Blue, Alizarin Crimson and Naples Yellow. Note how I allowed theunderpainting to show through in places, creating warmth. The sunlit road wasadded with Yellow Ochre and Titanium White.
The sunlit grass on the left wasblocked in with Cadmium Yellow, a little Cobalt Blue and White. For the shadowson the grass I used Cadmium Yellow, Ultramarine and a little Burnt Sienna. Iused energetic, direct brush work for this, aiming to keep it loose andexpressive.
The foliage on the tree was roughedin using the same green as for the foreground shadows. The trunk was BurntSienna and Naples Yellow, the darker branches and shadows were added with BurntSienna and Ultramarine.
The shadows under the eves and alongthe edge of the telegraph pole were painted using Cobalt Blue, Alizarin Crimsonand Naples Yellow. The telegraph pole was then highlighted with Titanium Whiteand Naples Yellow.
The grass along the edge of the wallwas modelled with lighter greens and dark shadows beneath. It is a dry stonewall, so I added a few marks here and there to suggest texture with CobaltBlue, Alizarin Crimson and Naples Yellow. The stones along the top were definedwith Burnt Sienna and Ultramarine.
The basic steps for this watercolor painting are as follows: 1. Find a suitable subject that captures your interest. 2. Decide what you want your message to be. In my case it was the beautiful shadows falling on the foreground. 3. Make any needed design decisions. As I wanted my watercolor painting to focus on the shadows I increased the foreground area. I also decided to add some sheep as it is a painting of a shearing shed. 4. Paint the sky and ground under painting in one go. It is important to get the tones right with the lightest in the sky and those in the ground getting stronger towards the foreground. It is very important to let this stage of your watercolor painting fully dry before you continue.
A few weeks ago, we alerted you to an interesting event when two of Jupiter's moons cast their shadows on Jupiter's face. This Tuesday morning a similar event will occur with a slightly different cast of characters.
The moons involved this time will be Io and Ganymede, and their shadows are readily visible in a good telescope with an aperture of 90 mm or more. Following the shadows across the disk will be the famous Great Red Spot of Jupiter.
These times are both somewhat variable depending on local conditions, but give a rough idea. Thus observers on the east coast will get a good view of the shadows' initial appearance, but will miss the later events involving the Red Spot because of daylight. Observers on the west coast will first see Jupiter after the shadows of both moons are already on the disk, but will have much better chance of seeing the Red Spot and the transit of Io. If they stick around a little longer, at 4:44 a.m. PDT they will see Ganymede begin its transit across Jupiter.
The image accompanying this article shows a simulation with Starry Night software of the event as it will appear at 5:15 a.m. EDT, 4:15 a.m. CDT, and 2:15 a.m. PDT on Tuesday morning, June 9. The shadows of both moons are well onto the disk, Ganymede's shadow being noticeably larger than Io's, and Io is about to begin its transit. The Great Red Spot is already visible in the Starry Night view, but will not actually be visible in a telescope until a bit later.
Shadows are formed when an object is placed in the path of light and that object do not let light to pass through it and shadow is formed on the opposite side of the object. During morning and evening, the incident angle of the light is very small. Due to this, longer shadows are formed in the morning and evening. While at noon incident angle increases, due to which size of shadows decreases. 2ff7e9595c
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