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| Made in the Shade |
Recently, I posted the above photo to social media. It shows me painting in the shade of my studio porch. One follower commented that she had a hard time with painting in shade: “I try that, then I have to put color on my knife and take it into the sun to judge accuracy.” If you're painting in deep shade, such as a porch with a large overhang or under a large tree, you'll definitely have a hard time seeing the color you're mixing.
Here's why. When you peer out of the shadows to see your brightly-lit subject, the light bombards your retina, causing certain chemical changes that result in vision. But when you then look at your palette in deep shade, your retina needs to refresh its biochemical configuration so it can see properly again. This reconfiguration takes awhile. We tend to glance at our subject to read a quick color note and then immediately look down at our palette to mix that note before we forget it. Your eyes can't adjust quickly enough for you to mix color accurately this way.
“Dark adaptation,” as it is called, is a slow process. It takes the eyes 20 to 30 minutes to adjust from sunlight to complete darkness. Here's a great article from Scientific American on why.
I avoid painting under such conditions. But sometimes, given the heat of the day and if deep shade is my only option, I'm forced to. In this case, I position myself so I am at the edge of the shade. I also rotate my canvas about 45° toward the light. This puts enough light on both canvas and palette so I can see well enough to mix color. You can see in the photo that I've positioned myself this way.
I know some painters who paint with sunlight falling directly on their canvas and palette. They claim that you can't see color if you don't have light. Well, this is true, but for me, painting like that results in the occasional optical migraine and always in eye strain.
Other painters always paint in shade, using an umbrella to shield canvas and palette. This is a better approach, as it avoids deep shade and its problems. But I find umbrellas to be an encumbrance, especially if I'm hiking in some distance or if there is even the slightest breeze. My preference is to simply position myself with respect to the sun so that my canvas is in shadow. My particular set-up, however, doesn't allow for my palette to be in shade, too. So, I mix my colors in the sun and then apply them in the shade. I don't recommend this for beginners, as it requires a certain amount of mental gymnastics. But with experience, you can develop this skill.
