Light and Shadow
16.08.24
Woodcarving is 3-dimensional, right?
It doesn't matter whether we are talking relief carving, lettering or work in the round; there's a depth.
How do we perceive these 3 dimensions?
Unless carvings are painted or in a similar way composed or finished so as to tell us what we're looking at, our brains principal way of perceiving the 3-dimensionality of anything is through the play of light and shadow.
Imagine a ball with a simple smooth, clean surface. Nothing much happening. If you were to carve a chunk out of it, you'd immediately introduce a shadow.
This shadow will become darker as you excavate deeper, as it will too if you introduce more cross- than full-on lighting. And those shadows will have a hard or soft edge depending on whether you left the edge itself sharp or rounded.
That's you: carving. Playing with depth. Working with light and shadow.
You'll create shadows by deepening the spaces with your carving, either though 'accents' (small, deep areas) or undercutting.
Shadows are all about what you take away.
What about light? That's all about what you leave: what surfaces from which the light bounces; how smooth and shiny or how rough and dull.
As you work with shadows you create the lighter parts in your carving. (Doesn'it blow your mind, how backwards we carvers work? As you take away wood, the carving is what you leave behind - uncarved...)
Light and shadow are everything to us carvers.
We need to consider these elements at every stage of our carving, from and the design to the lights in our workshop; through the carving itself right to where the finished piece is displayed at home or in a gallery.
Do watch this video in which I experiment with different lighting on letter carving, relief carving and working in the round. Watch the drama unfold!
Do have a look. Then play around with lighting yourself.
Oh, and here's a trick:
When though think you've finished your carving. Change the lighting and look again . . .
Related Video:
Images:
- Main: 'Pelago'. Barbara Hepworth, 1946. Tate Gallery, London
- Middle: '3 Forms'. Barbara Hepworth, 1935. Tate Gallery. London
- Bottom: ''Ceci n'est pas une Chemise #VI' , 2023. Chris Pye 2023. Private collection