Color temperature is similar to Umami in the sense that once you know it exists you start seeing it everywhere. And when you do, you never stop seeing it again.
So okay, how do you start seeing color temperature?
Okay, so why does this matter?
Landscape and figurative painters, such as Sorolla, understood that on a sunny day, the areas of light will appear warmer if the shadows in close proximity are being influenced by the cooler light bouncing in from the sky. Thus, on a sunny day the temperature relationship between a color lit by the sun, and the same color that passes into a shadow, will be warm and cool. For example, if you set out to paint a white shirt going from light into shadow you can see the white in the light contains more yellow; and the white in the shadow is not just darker, it is also a little cooler. The shadow has a bluish/purplish cast (see lower right image). If you maintain this relationship of warm lights/cool shadows consistently throughout the painting you will end up with color harmony – a unified color of light.
However, as you continue to examine at Sorolla’s work for this effect you find exceptions to the principle of warm lights/cool shadows. (Nothing is art is ever simple, right?) Yet when you find them they turn out to be logical exceptions, easily explained.
Not all light that bounces into a shadow comes from the sky. Some light may be reflecting in from another direction all together. And that light may be of a different color. In Sorolla’s paintings on the left, the sunlight is bouncing up off a beach below onto the underside of the woman's arm. In the middle image, the light can be seen bouncing off the inside of a straw basket that is held tightly against a boy's torso. And on the right, the light is bouncing off the face of a cliff outside the painting, AND bouncing up from the bottom under the water. (Fantastic, yes?) In these three examples the reflected light is so strong it overwhelms the weaker, cooler skylight coming in from above. So exceptions to the warm light/cool shadow principle is limited to specific situations where the color within the shadows are being pushed toward a warmer hue than the sunlight shining down from above. As a result, in comparison, the color of sunlight may appear cooler.
Tricky, yes? Well, not really, once you start looking for such exceptions in real life. And, once you do, you begin to see all kinds of colored light bouncing around in the shadows. And of course, when you include such temperature shifts into your own work it will imbue a quality of light everyone will love.
So if you are a painter like me, who is in awe of the genius of Sorolla – or if Sorolla is a new artist to you – you can learn a lot about how he worked from this video. Click the link below to receive a time limited special pre-release price. But don't wait. This discount will end the day after its official release, Monday, April 16.
In this video you will learn how to see, understand, and use color temperature to add vibrancy and life to your own work, just like Sorolla…
– TJK
