Bounce Light

Perspectives from The Artist's Road

Photographs Showing Orange Bounce Light on Left Pitcher

“Speaking, when you have something to say, is like looking. But who looks? If people could see properly, and see whole, they would all be painters. And it’s because people have no idea how to look that they hardly ever understand.”
- Pierre Bonnard

When I teach classes indoors, I often set up a very simple still-life for the class to work from. Under the subterfuge of offering a painting class, I’m really trying to train my students how to see as an artist. Seeing anything completely and accurately, as an artist or careful observer would, is not a natural skill we learn as we grow up.

When we look at an object in a still life arrangement, perhaps the first thing we notice is its outline, or general shape. Then we might notice its color and the distribution of light and dark on its surface - the highlights and shadows. Those are the basics. To see…