Tower of Three Jars - Drama of Light

 I like playing around with my still life set ups, moving the light source to see what kind of “atmosphere” I can come up with. 

Flooding the light from the back to the front, or from one side - spotlighting one particular item in the still life changes the mood or the focus of the painting.  Changing from light background to dark background also changes the mood.  When creating my still life set up I usually allow a lot of time so I can change everything around until it feels right for painting.  Adding in items or taking some away, changing the background from light to dark or adding a draping cloth, and moving the light source around, are all things that I do until I like what has resulted.  Then I paint.

Composition and items used in a still life can tell the story that you want to convey, but lighting really sets the mood.  It creates interest for the artist as they paint as well as for the viewer of the painting. 

This painting, Tower, is the result of playing with the light source. I used a very dark background with an overhead light. The light flooded the tops of the jars and the top of the wooden box, but the further from the light source, the darker things became. And then when painting the still life, of course I exaggerated it a bit for a dramatic effect.     :)  Tracy