One of the things that has struck me lately is a beautiful shadow. As an amateur photographer I have come to appreciate that magical time between late afternoon and dusk, when the sun is casting long, warm shadows. It is a short but brilliant period. Just about every day I want to be somewhere that I can capture these moments. I don't think there is a more beautiful time of day - perhaps the same magic dawns with the morning, but I'm too much of a zombie to appreciate anything in those hours. Our living room window faces the direction of the magical late afternoon, and sun freely floats in every time it's not obscured by the clouds. I see so many of these cool shadows and compositions, it's not even funny. It is interesting to see how just a small change of depth in the source object creates both fuzzy grey and crisp black lines. Fascinating and very attractive to the eyes, I say. A few years ago I drew a couple drawings focusing on the observation of positive and negative space. The sketches were nothing special (ex. Negative Bones, Negative Bones 2), but the college art activity opened my eyes to a concept I had not really understood before. The area around subjects is just as much or more valuable than the subject itself, and it must be filled or utilized just as well to create a full, deep composition. Ha! Sounds like I know something about design. I know zip. I guess I only know what my eyes like and dislike. I am a very unschooled artist, only having taken one rudimentary design class.
Since that discovery of negative and positive space, many of my drawings have reflected this new understanding in one way or another. Here are some examples: