Chiaroscuro

Water cascading

over the cliff's stony lip

smiles on its way down

I love the quality of light at certain times of the day. This isn't a "go toward the light" kind of thing, I'm talking about when the sun is at just the right angle and maybe there's a little haze in the air -- not too much, but some -- so that every protrusion and every depression is picked out and cast either in the brightest of light or in dark shadows.

Painters, especially those of the heyday of 16th & 17th century Europe, used this approach to accentuate their works.... a face glowing in light from an unseen window or door, workers out in the haystacked field casting shadows many times longer than their physical selves. Some three-dimensional artists and a few other practitioners create with an eye toward the interplay of light and shadow on their pieces.

But mostly, I notice this quality in the late afternoons. I'm looking out on a field now, with birds the size of crows hopping around talking to each other and catching bugs, and outsized bird-like shadows hop laterally on the ground every time the birds move. A bird in flight between me and sunlight so intense I can see right through most of its wing as it flares to land. That kind of light. I love it!

It rained again today, not a big storm but enough to get me wet as I ran from my truck to the office. Then it stopped. And started and stopped through the morning before the clouds blew on to the east. Ground too wet and muddy to take a walk, sun too bright to ignore, but the day too fine to stay indoors..... what to do, what to do? Guess I'll write about it!

Deep blue cloudless sky

bright lamp hanging up above

it's a wonderful day!