Bring your still life paintings to life with shadows!

Shadows help the artist create the illusion of three dimension and depth.

Shadow Study - Understanding shadows - This introductory shadow course opens the door for new painting students wishing to learn and understand the nature of shadows in painting. The character of cast, resting and body shadows are explored, as well as their color, transparency, and form. This is a short class where the instructor gives a light overview of what to look for when it comes to shadows, relative to still life compositions. Susan paints through a few shadows so the student comes away with a better understanding of how the transparency and value placement is applied.

Shadows add dimension and help the still life painter create a sense of spatial depth within the composition. Since light travels in a straight path, all objects that sit in the path of light will block it and by default create a cast shadow. When the object sits on a surface it will create sit down or anchor shadow. The artist must know and understand how to describe these shadows in a painting, otherwise the object will seem to float above the surface. Light and shadow can be a complex subject to learn, Susan explains and shows a few of the most important aspects of this subject.

 Students have 90 days to work through the class materials.

This class is offered at the Art Apprentice Online Art school.