Still Life Shadows

still life |ˈstɪl ˌlaɪf| noun (pl. still lifes |ˌlīfs| ) a painting or drawing of an arrangement of objects, typically including fruit and flowers and objects contrasting with these in texture, such as bowls and glassware.• still life as a genre of painting or drawing.

Still Life Shadow 1, 2016

shadow

A shadow is a space where light from a light source is blocked by an opaque object. It occupies all of the three-dimensional volume behind an object with light in front of it. The cross section of a shadow is a two-dimensional silhouette, or reverse projection of the object blocking the light.

A point source of light casts only a simple shadow, called an "umbra". For a non-point or "extended" source of light, the shadow is divided into the umbra, penumbra and antumbra. The wider the light source, the more blurred the shadow becomes. If two penumbras overlap, the shadows appear to attract and merge. This is known as the Shadow Blister Effect.

The outlines of the shadow zones can be found by tracing the rays of light emitted by the outermost regions of the extended light source. The umbra region does not receive any direct light from any part of the light source, and is the darkest. A viewer located in the umbra region cannot directly see any part of the light source.

By contrast, the penumbra is illuminated by some parts of the light source, giving it an intermediate level of light intensity. A viewer located in the penumbra region will see the light source, but it is partially blocked by the object casting the shadow.

If there are multiple light sources, there will be multiple shadows, with overlapping parts darker, and various combinations of brightnesses or even colors. The more diffuse the lighting becomes, the softer and more indistinct the shadow outlines become, until they disappear. The lighting of an overcast sky produces few visible shadows.

The absence of diffusing atmospheric effects in the vacuum of outer space produces shadows that are stark and sharply delineated by high-contrast boundaries between high and dark.

For a person or object touching the surface where the shadow is projected (e.g. a person standing on the ground, or a pole in the ground) the multiple shadows converge at the point of contact.

A shadow shows, apart from distortion, the same image as the silhouette when looking at the object from the sun-side, hence the mirror imageof the silhouette seen from the other side.

[Source: From the dictionary on my computer]

Still Life Shadow 3, 2016

Still Life Shadow 4, 2016

Catching The Light

As I unpacked the kitchen a few weeks ago, I put some glass jars on the window shelf intending to remember to wash them and put them away. Three weeks later they are still there, giving me a certain quiet joy as the catch the light, and reminding me of Morandi's seeming simple still lifes.

Catching the light 2, 2016

Catching the light , 2016

Morandi, NATURA MORTA, 1949

Morandi, NATURA MORTA, 1956

Spring At The Pond

There has been my favourite spring sounds at the pond for the past few days; the frogs are singing, and mating and generally hanging about. I love spring.

A frog hanging out at the pond, 2016

Frogs mating, 2016

More hanging out, 2016

Waiting For Spring

I'm still waiting....spring can you hear me calling for you?

Still waiting, 2016