Blue Butterfly Delphiniums

[Enug]

I grew these from seed this year and they looked so beautiful in a vase that I took a break from my animal portraits and painted them. Painted with airbrush and I mixed a couple of gradients for the background. I hope I got the direction of shadows correct . Someone will put me right! I haven't made stickers in such a long time that I had to look up instructions.

[D Akey]

That vase is amazing, June!

Pretty as a picture, as they say.

[markw]

Yes, it’s always good to get out of our comfort zones and give our artistic muscles something different to workout on.
I always get nervous with offering critiques, but since you bring it up, maybe the shadows are less convincing.
It looks to me too narrow for the vase that’s casting it and perhaps leaning slightly to the left
But the vase itself, I think you have totally nailed the vase Looks really hard and shiny
Keep going outside your comfort zone June, in fact we should all venture beyond our comfort zones once in a while.
It's maybe frustrating and harder but will make us better artists in the long run if we do.

[Enug]

Thanks DA and Mark for your comments. Yeah! I was expecting some feedback on the shadows. It was hard to tell which direction the light was coming from (there was no shadow on the ref) and in order to show some shadow I decided that it was slightly from the right. Maybe I should have left the vase shadow broader. Thanks again I was unsure.

[Enug]

I altered the shadow - OK?

[D Akey]

I'll let Mark answer specific to your picture since it was his comment and you're asking him to expand on it.

I only want to drop in something that works for me in a big way:

The shadow is a design element in the picture and it's describing planes. Especially if you're inventing it, look for the best way that serves the picture. It often tells volumes about the space you're depicting. So learn to control it as I'm sure Mark will respond about. It's not just a thing that ought to be there because of nature so you have to put it in. Place it and sculpt with it and whatever other shadows are in the image YOU are doing. You're not merely a copyist.

(Sorry for butting in Mark)

[Enug]

Mmmm! There really was no ref picture I just saw the vase in a page of vases and took it from there. The shadow is all my own invention.

[markw]

(Sorry for butting in Mark)

That’s all right, you “butt” away Mr D I can but echo your comments.

Shadow and Light is a huge subject, when you start getting into it, which is a bit surprising considering we see it in action every waking minute!
Though I am far from being an expert in it, I too still have much to learn, I hope my observations here will be helpful.

To my eyes there seems to be two competing light sources
The shadow at the base of the vase looks to be coming from the front left, while with the upper ¾ of the vase and the flowers, it is coming from the front right.
Though in reality it is sitting more or less centred around the base, the shadow here has a slightly harder edge on the left suggesting it is closer to the light source / object casting the shadow than the right side, which looks softer.
As the light is really coming from the front right, there should be more shadow being cast to the rear left of the vase base.

The vase swells in a very pleasing manner as we move down it, yet it’s shadow, at least for the top part, seems near vertical (the blue square) where as the shadow needs to echo more the sloping edge of the form that is casting it.
And the blue circle is where I’m expecting to see some indication of this shadow from the widest point of the vase.

Though it is possible to work out accurately using perspective and geometry how a shadow would fall from any object, when working from imagination sometimes too much accuracy can kill the story and mood of a painting as easily as too little!
Such technical accuracy should in my view come secondary to the story and composition. Unless of course the shadows are the story!
As Mr D says you are the author and artist and free to place and sculpt the elements and their shadows as you wish but there should still be a sense that everything in the world you are depicting is following the same set of rules regarding how things work.

[Enug]

Thank you Mark for taking the trouble to explain shadows. I think I knew that but failed to execute it. I was unsure of the light direction and thought it came more centre right rather than farther right as you indicated. Also I thought the shadow at the base of the vase was covered by the bulbous shape of the vase and so would not be affected by the light source. I softened the shadow at the base and by chance the left side appears softer.

These are not excuses - I'm trying to show how my mind worked. I appreciate both of you sharing your knowledge with me. So much to learn and I'm running out of time!

[markw]

So much to learn and I'm running out of time!

You jest!
You still have many more years of making art and the time to learn new things before you June I am sure!
I have always liked the following about ageing, art and learning by one of my favourite artists;

"From the age of six I had a mania for drawing the shapes of things.
When I was fifty I had published a universe of designs.
But all I have done before the age of seventy is not worth bothering with.
At seventy-five I'll have learned something of the pattern of nature, of animals, of plants, of trees, birds, fish and insects.
When I am eighty you will see real progress.
At ninety I shall have cut my way deeply into the mystery of life itself.
At one hundred, I shall be a marvellous artist.
At 110, everything I create; a dot, a line, will jump to life as never before.
To all of you who are going to live as long as I do, I promise to keep my word.
I am writing this in my old age. I used to call myself Hokusai, but today I sign myself The Old Man Mad About Drawing."
If heaven had granted me five more years, I could have become a real painter."

Hokusai 1760 ~ 1849