Without shadows, there is no depth

This morning I watched a video of a wonderful painter. He painted a vast horizon, mountains, majestic clouds, glowing grass, and the sea. 

Full of love and passion, he explained what he was doing. As he painted, he surprised himself as the grass grew up the mountains, as if it weren’t he who was painting the picture, but the picture itself. As if a reality were actually coming into being there. In that moment. 

Every now and then, he would step back and look at the painting from a distance. He said it’s important to take a few steps back every now and then to see the big picture. If you’re too close, you can’t see the painting clearly. So after each detail, he took a look at the whole picture.

He said something that inspired me to write this text. 

He painted each section dark first. The darkest color that section could have. The mountains, for example, he painted black. The meadow in a dirty, dark green. Only then did the lighter layers and the sparkling highlights follow. 

He said that he, too, had to realize that if you want to paint a picture with depth, the most important thing is the shadows. They’re actually more important than the light! 

In the past, he had started painting with the brightest colors when he wanted to create a picture that was bright and made the viewer beam. 

But he had learned that without the shadows, no radiant light is possible. It’s important how contrasts are created. First come the shadows. And then the light.