I have a room in my house where I can pull back a sliver of a “black out curtain” and in this otherwise darkened room, the light acts like an intense spot light. I love to use this effect in creating dramatically lit portraits. Whether in photography or paintings the effect is called Chiaroscura. “Chiaro” meaning “clear or bright”, “Scura” meaning “dark or to obscure”. Both DaVinci and Carravaggio made this single light effect famous as a way to create great depth and dimension in their art which was most often monotone. The term has become diluted to generally mean artwork with great contrast. I modified my single light effect by turning on, what by contrast was a dim ceiling light. This added warm highlights to part of her hair and the side of her face – an image otherwise lit by cool daylight.

Well, the next painting will be very different, very colorful with an impressionist twist to it. Stay tuned. Have a great week. Winifred

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