Artists Of Texas Contemporary Paintings and Art

  Creating Dramatic Lighting   Creating bold and dramatic lighting is what chiaroscuro painting is all about.   Caravaggio began to use deep, dark backgrounds for many of his paintings, and seemed to almost turn a spotlight on his figures. The high contrast in those paintings made for intensely powerful and dramatic works of art. Because of Caravaggio, Chiaroscuro became very popular, and today the word is most often used to mean “high contrast” more than anything else.   Sometimes the source of the intense illumination in a painting (whether by Caravaggio or other artists) was actually IN the painting—you can see examples in religious works, where an angel or other holy figure actually illuminates the entire scene. Other times the light source is simply a candle, or a fire.     When using candlelight or torch, try adding highlights that have a bit of the color from the light source. For example, if the light sourc...