CN.B., Click on images to zoom.
'Towards Llanferres'
Oil Paint on Panel.
Contre-jour simply means against the light. It is a french-derived term which is particularly used in photography and can very often describe a standard silhouette.
It can also mean an image in which the light is shining directly at the eye of the beholder and so all objects across the picture are seen, to varying degrees, against this light.
The painting above is a slight variation on this, in that the light source is not shining directly at the observer. I saw the landscape above, with the light in the fields ahead, as I emerged from a darkish wooded area.
As can be seen, the light source, i.e., the sun, was not directly ahead, but was illuminating the landscape from the left side, and it was the bright landscape which acted, in this case, as the light against which the nearer objects were silhouetted.
N.B., Click on images to zoom.
'From Loggerheads'
Oil Paint on Panel
CN.B., Click on images to zoom.
'Towards Llanferres'
Oil Paint on Panel.
Contre-jour simply means against the light. It is a french-derived term which is particularly used in photography and can very often describe a standard silhouette.
It can also mean an image in which the light is shining directly at the eye of the beholder and so all objects across the picture are seen, to varying degrees, against this light.
The painting above is a slight variation on this, in that the light source is not shining directly at the observer. I saw the landscape above, with the light in the fields ahead, as I emerged from a darkish wooded area.
As can be seen, the light source, i.e., the sun, was not directly ahead, but was illuminating the landscape from the left side, and it was the bright landscape which acted, in this case, as the light against which the nearer objects were silhouetted.
N.B., Click on images to zoom.
'From Loggerheads'
I painted this picture from the escarpment at Loggerheads, looking out over the landscape towards the Clwydian Vale.
Again the light source is off to the left, but the trees, and near landscape are in shadow, and so the effect of the painting is contre-jour. It is an autumn picture.
N.B., Click on images to zoom.
'Light Behind Trees'
Oil Paint on Panel
This small bit of landscape was seen with the sunlight shining directly towards me through the trees, but because of the amount of foliage around, the sunlight is fairly dissipated, rather than direct. So the effect becomes (hopefully) fairly subtle and generalised.
N.B., Click on images to zoom.
'Figure'
Graphite study on paper. (Private Collection)
This is a straightforward study of a seated figure with a large (not depicted) window behind the model. So she is drawn contre-jour, (but in an non-emphatic way).
quiz quiz quiz quiz quiz “details, details............” quiz quiz quiz quiz quiz
Whose hands are these, and who painted them?
(The answer will be in the next posting.)
And here's the answer from the last posting -
by Peter Paul Rubens, 1611-12, Art Gallery of Ontario.
quiz quiz quiz quiz quiz “details, details............” quiz quiz quiz quiz quiz
"A drawing is always dragged down to the level of its caption."
James Thurber
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. . . . and now, a Recommended Read . . . .
Ruling the Void.
by Peter Mair
In all honesty I could not recommend this as a light, carefree read. It is written by a widely respected political scientist and it can be dense and text-book-like. But for anyone in two minds about the direction of democracy, particularly in Europe, this book is a must.
'In the long-established democracies of Western Europe, electoral turnouts are in decline, membership is shrinking in the major parties, and those who remain loyal partisans are sapped of enthusiasm. Peter Mair’s new book weighs the impact of these changes, which together show that, after a century of democratic aspiration, electorates are deserting the political arena. Mair examines the alarming parallel development that has seen Europe’s political elites remodel themselves as a homogeneous professional class, withdrawing into state institutions that offer relative stability in a world of fickle voters. Meanwhile, non-democratic agencies and practices proliferate and gain credibility—not least among them the European Union itself, an organisation contributing to the depoliticisation of the member states and one whose notorious ‘democratic deficit’ reflects the deliberate intentions of its founders.'
Ruling the Void offers an authoritative and chilling assessment of the prospects for popular political representation today, not only in the varied democracies of Europe but throughout the developed world.
Amazon Review.
Published on Verso
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