Light

Day 3 of BEDN and our topic is Light.

This had me scratching my head for a while. What does one write about light?  I'm no scientist so I can't analyse light as a scientific phenomenon - gosh that sounds pretentious!  So I was left wondering whether to go with the topic or go 'off piste'.

Then I re-read yesterday's post and thought about light in art.  As I said yesterday I'm not an artist; I wish I was but I've long since accepted that I haven't been blessed in that way.  However I do have an appreciation of art and enjoy going to galleries and browsing.  So today I'm going to share a few pictures that I love featuring light.

 I could have chosen anything by Turner as he was a master at the use of light.  the milky, misty quality of the light in this painting of Chichester Canal makes me think of early spring mornings with a slight chill in the air - that watery quality that light has when there is little warmth in it.

Holman Hunt's Light of the World has long been a favourite of mine.  I'm a huge fan of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and was lucky enough to live for many years in Birmingham which has a fantastic collection of their work - many an hour was spent wandering through the galleries in the Museum and Art Gallery admiring these paintings.  I love the warm glow of the lamp in Christ's hand and the gesture of welcome, also the faint glow of a halo around Christ's head.  It is a painting that I have stared at on many occasions and I love it; many people don't enjoy religious paintings but I've also been strangely drawn to them.

  This is from Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and is another Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood painting, this time by Ford Maddox Brown.  Although the subject is a little 'chocolate box' for a modern audience I love the clarity of light in this painting.  I can feel the warmth of the sun and smell the grass and lambs.  The porcelain skin of the two main characters and the pale blue of the woman's dress make this a very British painting - she must be one of those women who kept out of the sun and didn't have to work outside. 

So those are my thoughts on light.  Hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures.