Episode 32 - Can you paint an effect of Light?

   

"The sky is the source of light in Nature and it governs everything." – John Constable  

John Constable, Dedham Lock and Mill, c. 1818, oc 27 1/2 x 35 3/4 Private collection

Join Connie, David and Judy as they consider the question, "Can you paint an effect of light?" Obviously our two resident artists, David and Connie - as plein air painters - believe that is the whole point of American Impressionism and painting on location, is to capture that rare moment in time: an effect of light.

It is the prime motive for any artist wanting to work out of doors direct from nature. Judy waxes lyrical on the attributes of Leeds painter Atkinson Grimshaw, while Constable and Sorolla are also held up as masters of the light effect.

 

Atkinson Grimshaw, Park Row, Leeds 1882, oc 30 x 25 Leeds City Art Gallery

Atkinson Grimshaw, Scarborough by Moonlight, c 1876, ob 11 x 17. Private collection

"Light is a thing that cannot be reproduced, but must be represented by something else – by color." – Paul Cezanne

David poses the question, does movement represent light, or space? How do you create the optical illusion of an effect of light with color, brush and canvas? What do you think?

Of course, when it comes right down to it, perhaps the best purveyor of of Light is the Spanish Master, Sorolla and so we will leave the last word, or rather image, to him....

Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida, The Carob Tree, 1898, oc 19 3/4 x 38 1/2. Private collection