Close Up and Personal - Day 31

This Little Light Of Mine...  

"...I'm Going To Let It Shine!"    

- darkness by candlelight    

Candles are so familiar to us. We have ritual candles, church candles, votive candles, birthday candles and candles on the dinner table. We can have candles for decoration, as well, always being aware of fire safety in their use.
And we also have the symbolism of candles that relates the self-sustaining candle flame to specific events in our lives. We may not need candles, but there is something magic about them that makes us want to light candles all the same.

Close Up and Personal - Day 30

In Its Own Light  

"By the Light of the Kerosene Lamp"    

- an old-fashioned way to light up the night    

Even today, in areas where electricity is not available, people use oil-burning lamps to give light after the sun goes down. Up to the mid 1800's, the most commonly used lamp fuel was whale oil, but nowadays oil lamps burn cleanly with kerosene or refined lamp oil. They may not give off a great deal of light, but when there is no electric power, oil lamps are good things to have at the back of the shelf, ready and waiting to be lit.

Close Up and Personal - Day 24

Red Wine Glass in Sunshine 

Red Wine Glass in Sunshine   

- reflections and refractions in direct light    

One of my grandmother's treasures was her full table set of Portuguese cut glass, which included everything from thumb-sized sherry and port glasses to full size water goblets, with jugs and sherbet cups to match.
My favorites were always the red wine goblets, with their distinct color contrasts and well defined patterns. They always looked beautiful, and they still do.

Texture Study - Rocks, Ripples and Refractions

Preliminary Drawing

Texture Study - "Rocks, Ripples and Refractions"

Digital drawing, 800px x 600px

I always found what goes on at the bottom of a pond fascinating to watch.

Underwater, rocks and sticks that look so clearly defined on land get covered with a gooey brown blanket which obscures their features. On the surface of the water, there are waves and bubbles and patches of light which compete for your attention against the objects lying on the bottom. And where the sun shines through those waves, patches of light and shadow get projected, with reflections and refractions, onto the underwater rocks and sticks that are already barely recognizable.

It's a real game to figure out what you are looking at. And it's mesmerizing to simply follow the shapes made by the flow of the ripples back and forth. Surface and bottom. Bottom and surface. Light and shadow. Fascinating.

.

.