Chiaroscuro landscape, extreme contrast!

Chiaroscuro, roughly explained is an Italian art expression for the extreme contrast between light and dark, used brilliantly by artists like Caravaggio. In sketches I love to use this play of extreme light and shade, using 9b pencils or graphite sticks to achieve this effect (clarty fingers and hands are often the result, and smudging can also be a bit of a problem). The artist Terry Miura uses these high-key effects magnificently in both his landscape and figurative works and illustrates just how atmospheric the results can be. I am a fan of black and white photography, using it often alongside quick sketches as a basis for finished pastel paintings. Looking at my pastel work I find my black and white landscapes an extreme contrast to my coloured work; brooding, moody and reflective and I find this difference exciting and freeing. It is interesting that when I paint shade and shadows in my pastel paintings I never chose black, I prefer dark purples, greens and blues. My chiaroscuro landscape is on torchon paper and was drawn with charcoal, chalk and compressed charcoal (which creates a deeper black!)

Hidden Deep

55cm x 65cm, Charcoal and Chalk

Now that Autumn is with us, the light is changing and I think that I'll be back to long walks around this local lake. In the cool mornings, the colours are bleached out leaving a little more mystery! I love fog and mist rising from water, I think being Scottish it reminds me of home!

Here is a photo of the lake, perhaps a little inspiration for a bit of chiaroscuro!!!!!!!