My regular readers know I’ve been more and more attracted to the idea of being able to paint dappled light, consciously, and hopefully, eventually more spontaneously.
I titled my post to include both “conundrum” – which I kept misspelling til I looked it up 😊 – and “caldron” – which I keep feeling my creative heart and mind are swimming in (over their heads) lol!
I’ve viewed a few videos, read a few articles, and scratched out a few studies – but – realized the other night I was pursuing too haphazardly.
I realized I need to do more than dabble with something so dappled 😏 — so I saved a chunk of YouTube videos to a category folder I named “dappled light”, created an image album of samples images I like (also named “dappled light”, and started searching for articles.
Among the things I’ve noticed are —
- Some artists used a lot of the same size same shape dapples – which is fine of course
- The medium the artist uses can deeply affect the intensity and shapes of dapples
- Mixtures of soft and hard edge dapples won’t in themselves ruin or hurt an image
- If the light/shadow dappling source, ie, manmade things (power lines, fences etc) or trees or clouds is not visible, there’s a certain magic for what makes the dappled light on the ground or person or building etc actually work
- Whether the artist is realist (even hyper-realist), impressionist, or strongly expressionist does not seem to affect the effect of the dappled light, except within that art style itself and how it affects the viewer and his or her preferences
- Even abstract art can have its own sense of dappled-ness! (See tweet further below)
- And, it’s much easier for me to “see” dappled light and capture it photographically, than it is for me to paint (see image further below), and I want to change that, balance it out much more, even if impressionistically vs photo-realist (the latter never being something I did, never having the patience and skill set).
My goal for now, though more focussedly ( if such a word 😊 ) is to continue studying, continue building a body of line drawings to practice upon, and start to more steadily ( that’s a word ☺️ ) share what I learn as I learn it.
Like cooking (at least with me, lol!) some creations will be really good, and some’ll be a huge mess!
But if I really want to learn how “I” want to do dappled light, this is my only way.
I couldn’t decide, from all the list above, where to start –
So I went back to a blog post about one of my watercolors on paper I’d titled, “Figureshttps://felipeadanlerma.com/2021/09/07/september-04-2021-figures-in-a-landscape-study-im-calling-it-done-but-i-know-its-not/ in a Landscape Study” – I’m Calling it Done! (but I know it’s not) – knowing it wasn’t the right size figures for the light variations I wanted, but the easiest thing I could get to, and just dig into it making it more what I’d like with all these “dappled” thoughts in my head, lol!
And that’s the header image above.
Question is, do I think it’s finished now – uh, no, lol!
I seeing some things though I think I can use more of to bring it to closure, I hope 😊
Meanwhile, here’s two samples below illustrating ideas from my list top of the post (abstract-dappled art & photo-dappled art) —
https://felipeadanlerma.com/2020/02/05/ridges-of-spring-light-new-6×6-watercolor-acrylic-upload-on-fine-art-america/
https://felipeadan-lerma.pixels.com/featured/morning-light-in-barton-springs-greenbelt-austin-poster-felipe-adan-lerma.html
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Related post on my site 😊
https://felipeadanlerma.com/2021/08/17/august-15-2021-my-newest-poster-upload-fineartamerica-morning-light-in-barton-springs-greenbelt-austin-texas-poster/
It’s not much of an iron clad plan, as a path through the beautiful forest of art around me.
I can deal with that – heck, I think I’ll love that! ❤️
Stay well everyone! 💕
Adan
My Related Posts Here On My Blog
My Related Amazon Affiliate Search Products
https://www.amazon.com/shop/felipeadanlerma
My Amazon search for “dappled light, in books” didn’t bring up what I’d hoped (books with pics of dappled light) but did bring up lots of choices of books where dappled light figured in the title and probably the story or poetry choices offered, kinda nice – tweeted an example below 😊
https://amzn.to/3k78YMi
https://amzn.to/3zaHA48
My Latest Posts On My Website!
- Catching Up Posting My Newer Paintings – Island Line Trail Sunset 6 2026“Soft warm light eased my day, shimmering now, glittering greetings of peace and hopefulness like seeds for my dreams and slumber in my sleep to come” – Adan
- Side by Side, Comparing the Same File With Differing Export Settings – 10.18.26, Updated 101926I feel this new format now presents the physical presence of my work closer to actuality as I myself see it, especially in regards to textures, colors, value changes, etc.
- Reformatting Images of My Art for Truer Representation, Even if Only Slightly“I know 1st things I’d want to know is how are my newer images better, and how can I apply this to more of my work….”
- My Most Viewed Image Last Week at #FineArtAmerica – Praying Together 2026 8×10I feel this new format now presents the physical presence of my work closer to actuality as I myself see it, especially in regards to textures, colors, value changes, etc.
- Reformatting Images of My Art for Truer Representation, Bit by Bit, LiterallyI feel this new format now presents the physical presence of my work closer to actuality as I myself see it, especially in regards to textures, colors, value changes, etc.
- Color & Texture — Texture & Color
- My Original Source Photo for Series of New Paintings – San Francisco Golden Gate BridgeThe image opportunity itself was via an evening boat ride my wife Sheila and I took on our so-far only trip to San Francisco a couple years ago.
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Thanks again, everyone! 😊
Adan
Twitter / Instagram / FB @FelipeAdanLerma
Amazon Author Page – https://amzn.to/2YpgyUf
Fine Art America (FAA, Pixels) – https://felipeadan-lerma.pixels.com/
