Art Companion: Chapter 34, Background Embrace Effect and Transparency

The final chapter in the just published, The Art Studio Companion: A Master Class for Artists

In this study, we examine transparent shadows and their potential to revolutionize your art.

One of my greatest adventures in art has been to explore the transparent nature of shadows. It creates a winking energy, supports light effects, integrates new objects into a composition, and holds profound symbolic meanings.

Background Embrace Effect

Transparency in shadows owes its appearance to what I call the Background Embrace Effect. It's an optical concept where the contrast between an object and its background influences how its edges and sides are perceived, enhancing its three-dimensional appearance, most noticeably in shadowed objects.

263 Newberry. Background Embrace Effect: Chiaroscuro, Ambient Backlight, Transparency.

In demo 263, we can observe how both light and dark backgrounds soften the object’s edges, giving a sense that the background seems to “embrace” the object. Dark backgrounds impart a chiaroscuro effect, light backgrounds create an ambient backlit effect, and when backgrounds are mixed with light and dark that creates a transparent effect, giving the sense that the shadowed object is transparent.

264 Newberry. Pic of the back of my hand illustrating transparent shadows.

In demo 264, the photo of the back of my fingers, though subtle, illustrates the transparent nature of shadows. If you squint, looking at the dark and gray-purple vertical shapes behind my fingers, you will notice the shapes maintain their grayness and darkness, while the fingers in front undergo slight changes in tone. The finger parts in front of the gray have taken on cool, lighter tints, while the three fingertips in front of the dark shape have become warmer and darker. Additionally, one can discern a vague dark edge running down through the fingertips literally creating a transparent effect.

Creating the feeling of light in artwork is the zenith of technical and aesthetic accomplishment. Great painters of light like Rembrandt and Monet created shadowed areas that were homogenous, with limited variations of super dark colors in Rembrandt's case, or limited variations in color hue like blue in some of Monet's works. Within their shadows, there is very little contrast, a mysterious emptiness, and little detailed information. What their shadows do is set the stage for wondrous light. [See Chapter 14 for a detailed analysis comparing their shadows and highlights.]

Transparent Shadows, Enhancing Light

Surprisingly when shadows are made transparent, they retain a characteristic essence reminiscent of the shadows found in the works of Rembrandt and Monet. Like the shadows in those paintings, transparent shadows act as accomplices to light, contributing to the mysterious atmosphere with their enigmatic quality and lack of detailed information about the objects. Paradoxically, these transparent shadows convey a wealth of information about the background behind them. Regardless of this apparent contradiction, the human eye is able to interpret transparent shadows as shadows without confusion, responding to them optically in a manner consistent with traditional opaque shadows.

Transparent shadows intensify the concreteness and brilliance of light.

The experience while painting highlighted objects with transparent shadows is very similar to drawing white chalk highlights on gray paper, where the shadows and background have no information whatsoever, simply gray paper. The effect of the highlights on the plain gray is striking, and they pop with brightness. To have this brilliant light effect with transparent shadows feels miraculous.

Pro Tip: Overly detailed information within shadows diminishes luminosity. When light shines on an object, it reveals detailed information, but in areas without light, details fade away. Our eyes do not expect to find intricate information in shadows, so when they encounter it in a painting, they tend to tune it out.

Transparent Shadows, Integrating Objects

For classical representational painters, it is far easier to paint a whole scene directly without changes to the objects in the setting. That way, they can see everything at once. Yet, they often face difficulty when integrating new objects into a scene or making up imaginary compositions. Transparent shadows go a long ways towards solving this problem, effortlessly integrating new objects into a setting, making them feel perfectly at home in surrounding space.

Transparent Shadows, Symbolism 

For the past couple of years, my friends and I have been discussing shadow work. It's all about the importance of facing one's dark side and not avoiding it. Psychologically, it can be a daunting journey. As painters, we are comfortable with light and shadow, and the metaphors are not lost on us. Exploring the transparent nature of shadows, I realized the profound symbolism of transparency, especially in relation to one's shadowed self. Instead of being intimidating, transparency draws us in. It transforms fear into a wondrous exploration of our background and surroundings.

A corollary to the transparency of the shadows is the realism in the light. In my Space Series, the lit parts of the figures' areas are bathed in light, showing heightened detail and realism. The contrast is beautiful symbolism: Our transparency shows us where we come from, and it is our light that defines us.

To Summarize

We observed how shadowed objects are affected by their backgrounds, due to the Background Embrace Effect. We discovered that transparent shadows can intensify the luminosity of light and seamlessly integrate objects into their compositional surroundings. Additionally, we suggested that the symbolism of transparency, especially with the human figure, celebrates authenticity and psychological well-being. Through the interplay of transparency and realistic light, we illuminate the concept: transparency reveals our origins, while light defines our identity.

Vitruvian Man and Metamorphosis: A Call to Rise

In my two recent paintings from the Space Series (2024), Vitruvian Man and Metamorphosis: A Call to Rise, I show how transformative transparency can be as a technique. These paintings depict figures against nebula backgrounds. Through the literal use of transparent shadows, the figures appear as part of their space settings. They say that eyes are the window to the soul; in a similar manner, with transparent shadows, we literally see through them. The realistic light defines them, giving a sense of emergence. Lastly, where their transparent shadows merge with the background, I have clearly celebrated their contour lines, emphasizing the metamorphic point that they have clearly drawn boundaries.

265 Newberry, Vitruvian Man, 2024, oil on linen, 64x48”.

266 Newberry, Metamorphosis: Call to Rise, 2024, oil on linen, 64x48”.

Practice

As always, it is crucial to reinforce your understanding through practice. We have been studying how transparent shadows can transform and breathe life into an artwork. For this lesson I would like you to rescue a “dead” painting. The idea is to paint the shadows of object(s) literally transparent.

Pro Tip: Keep your “awful” paintings. They are already throwaways, so they make excellent guinea pigs for experiments!

Just today, for this lesson, I combed through my discarded paintings and found a muddy and confused still-life of a clay vase. I applied my transparency theory to it. There are two stages: first, I simply made the shadows of the vase transparent against the dark gray background. Then, for fun, I decided to add a leaf-motif wallpaper background, ensuring to literally bring the leaf motif through the shadows of the vase.

I suggest spending a total of 3 hours transforming the objects' shadows into transparent ones. Truly, it is fun and adventurous, encouraging thinking outside the box. It can be shocking when the artwork unexpectedly comes alive, counterintuitively. After you have made the shadows transparent, be sure to infuse the lit areas with light and realism. Then, reassess your painting to see if you want to work more in the lit areas.

Below I show you a demo suggestion:

Revitalizing a Dead Work

1.      In demo 267, I retrieved a still-life painting from my discard bin (upper left).

2.      Next, I repainted the vase’s shadows the identical color and tone of its immediate background (upper right).

3.      In the third development (lower left), I painted over the confused blob in front of the vase. I am not sure if it was a bouquet of flowers in shadow or a cast shadow. Additionally, I accented the contour line on the left. If you like it at this stage, you are good to go. But since it was a throwaway, you might go whole hog and do something exciting in the background.

4.      I decided on a leaf-motif for the background wallpaper and started to paint dark outlines (lower right).

267 Vase work in progress.

268 Newberry, Vase of Leaves, 2024, oil, 12x9”.

5.      Lastly, in demo 268, I painted color into the leaf-motif. You will notice I preserved the vase’s cast shadow including it as a background feature. And I literally continued the motif through the shadow of the vase.

Personal Note: Before we conclude, I want to take a moment to express my heartfelt gratitude to each of you for joining me on this artistic course. I hope you've found the tutorials insightful and enjoyable. I'm grateful for the opportunity to share my passion for art with you. Thank you for your support and for being a part of this art family. Wishing you continued inspiration and growth in your artistic explorations.

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