Bright Light Depiction in Oil Painting
My latest painting is another figure study on 12 x 12 oil paper. With this one, I tried to really emphasize a bright light source behind the subject. I think I was able to accomplish this for the most part, but I can see it’s something I need to practice a bit more. I’ll follow my standard format here, which is to share an image of the painting, the Instagram time lapse, and some of the verbiage I used on social media. Then, I’ll embed the YouTube video that features this piece.
Bright Light, oil on paper
With this painting, I wanted to emphasize bright light behind the subject. I think I was able to get most of the way there, but there are still some aspects of depicting lighted areas that I need to practice. This may be partially an instance of “I don’t know what I don’t know”, but I think part of the trick is to use darker values to frame the light (paraphrasing a lesson from Bob Ross). I also wonder about materials – I always use Titanium White, but I have thought about trying some other types of white. Overall though, I like how this one turned out.
The video I shared on YouTube is a discussion about this same topic – depicting bright light in an oil painting, just some thoughts on trying to really highlight a shining, bright area in a portrait. I think this is actually a pretty tricky thing to navigate. Some pieces to this conversation include the properties of the paint itself, such as the pigment’s temperature, light reflection, and components (00:50). And the second part of the discussion involves how darker color values in a portrait bring out the light (03:00) and emphasize brightness by comparison, which is a subtle aspect I still need to practice.
Materials Used:
- 🖼️ Paper: https://amzn.to/3BzYiNy
- 🖌️ Brush Set: https://amzn.to/3QV8u8Z
- 🎨 Gamblin Paints: https://amzn.to/3XnoDZA
- 🎨 Utrecht Paints: https://amzn.to/3OoTHnx
- 📷 Tripod: https://amzn.to/325pgPp
- 🦾 Adjustable arm: https://amzn.to/325FJ6c
- 🎨 Blick Oil Paints
Colors Used:
- ⬛️ Raw Umber (Gamblin 1980)
- ⬜️ Titanium White (Utrecht Studio)
- 🟨 Yellow Ochre (Gamblin 1980)
- 🟨 Cadmium Yellow (Gamblin 1980)
- 🟥 Cadmium Red Hue (Utrecht Studio)
- 🟥 Alizarin Crimson (Utrecht Studio)
- 🟧 Blush (Gamblin 1980)
- 🟫 Burnt Umber (Utrecht Studio)
- 🟫 Burnt Sienna (Utrecht Studio)
- 🟦 Ultramarine Blue (Utrecht Studio)
- 🟩 Sap Green (Utrecht Studio)
Fantastic painting, I’m liking your style.
I appreciate you checking it out! Sorry about the delayed response, I’m really bad about keeping up with the blog. Sometimes it takes a major backseat to youtube and instagram unfortunately.
Oh me too. There’s always so much to do.
Definitely amazing. How many paintings a week are you doing?
I appreciate it! Over the last year or so, I’ve averaged about 2-3 paintings per week. But lately the last couple weeks, I’ve had to slow it down. We’ve had the flu bouncing around our house, so it put me out of commission a bit. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things!
Also, I’m massively behind on my wp reader feed, so just catching up on some of your latest – looks like you’re off to a great start to 2024
Love this one, especially the eyes, and I enjoyed watching the video as it developed. Super result.
Thanks Claire! It was a fun one – I felt like this one just flowed. It doesn’t always happen, but I love when it feels natural like that. Hope everything is good with you in the textile and printing world!
Always learning and, hopefully, improving my skills.