Jack Rogers

Sketchbook Page studies for Jack Rogers

Light for the Artist

Morning Pine Tree Sketch 2

Morning Pine Tree Sketch 1

"Without light, there is darkness. With no light at all, there is absolute darkness. We seldom encounter absolute darkness in everyday life. To fully understand the effects of light, we must understand what happens in its absence. Without light, we do not see. Everything becomes blackness, and all differences disappear. Darkness tends to smother differences, reduce all contrast and definition. Darkness blurs such distinctions as colors, forms, and textures. Light, conversely, defines. Things become distinguishable as soon as we turn on a light in the darkness. With light, we see variety. Light shows us changes of color, gradations of value, contrasts, textures, chromatic changes, forms and detail. The action of light, then, is to define, as the action of darkness is to obscure. In order to suggest the effects of light, we must learn how to suggest the effects of darkness. A large part of painting consists in showing this opposition."

Ted Seth Jacobs from Light for the Artist