Page:Drawing for Beginners.djvu/244

 Naturally, however, rich colours retain the shadows and lighter colours reflect more light.

Look through half-closed lids (not for colour, but for pure light and shade) at a large armchair upholstered in one uniform an unpatterned material. Note how the colour varies under the play of light and shadow. Cannot you see the difference between the colour in the shadows and the colour in light? And a contrast between the back and the seat of the chair, the tops and the sides of the arms, the edges of the arms and seat and the edges of the back? The sofa, settee, and table covered with a plain piece of material offer the same object-lessons of light and shade.

Observe&mdash;in a bright light&mdash;a cream-coloured jug or cup decorated with a broad band of pale colour. The pink, blue, or yellow band merges into the shaded side of the jug, and becomes almost indistinguishable from the cream surroundings.

Place in a pale blue, pink, or yellow enamelled mug, or tumbler, upon a white plate and in a strong light. Do you not find that the mug or tumbler&mdash;though a shade darker than the white plate&mdash;mingles with the cast shadow thrown on the plate?

The contents of a small table&mdash;a man's smoking table no less than a lady's toilet table&mdash;will offer innumerable objects for the study of pure light and shade. A cigar-box with its gilt and gaily tinted labels is a very good object-lesson in light and shade, and seen in a shaded position the light label blends with the polished dark wood on the shadow side.

A cigarette, like a cigar, presents a tubular shape, light on one side, dark on the other. The gold or cork tip of the cigarette merges into the shadows of the shaded side; the crimson and gold band of the cigar mingles with the rich brown shadows of the cigar itself.

If you arrange several objects of contrasting colour closely together and in the same light, the contrast helps to force the effect.

Draw a cluster of purple grapes and light green grapes