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

November's Light

I hung some shelves on the studio walls to see how some of the new experiments would look / work, and because it was in the afternoon the light was deeply slanted and dramatic. I need more shelves. Playing with the light and shadow has me excited.

Shelf light, 2014

More shelf light, 2014

Watching the Light

There hasn't been a lot of sunshine lately so the other morning as I walked down the hall I was thrilled to see the sun reaching along the wall almost to the door. Ahh, it's almost equinox, almost spring.

November's Lines and Textures

On my walks yesterday all I was noticing was the shadow line of the trees. As we approach the solstice the shadows get longer, creating intricate pattern on the driveway and barely white pond. As I looked closely at the ice on the pond I was filled with wonder at the cosmos created. With such a minimal landscape  textures comes to the forefront. The land is black and white with shades of gray, etched with November's lines.

an old apple tree casts it's shadow on the driveway

A split in the ice

tree shadows on the pond

another kind of milky way

The Minimal House

Everyday I watch the sun move further and further north and the days get longer and longer. And while we are not finished with winter yet, the quality of light in the house makes a huge difference. Shadows change their position on the white walls, light fills the rooms to bursting.

Light on the walls

Light and Shadow

This year our very slanted and southern light is hiding more days that I wish. So that when it finally emerges one really pays attention to where it lands and the shapes it illuminates and hides. The exterior world of snow and the interior world of white walls make for a canvas waiting to be marked.

The sun's mark making