Page:Drawing for Beginners.djvu/247

 side by side. The purple grapes catch the light and hold rich shadows. The light grapes should be as firmly but more delicately drawn; they require light touches of chalk, and shadow-shapes drawn with a gentle hand. The depth and shade of the grapes vary very little. There is a slightly heavier tone beneath the dark round globules.

A white or cream bird's wing leaning against a dark green bottle with a shadow projecting over the feathers makes a very interesting contrast of light and shade. Only the stopper of the bottle reflects pure light. The rest of it is submerged into shadow, and, half closing your eyes, you will find that the bottle loses itself in its own shadow cast on the ground.

The whole of the wing is a light tone, the lightest portion being that which is nearest. Draw the triangular shape with firm touches of white chalk, then shade down with black chalk where the shadow lies. There is a rich shadow in the foreground. The wing, though deeply overshadowed, still remains many shades lighter than the ground.

If the bottle and wing are a thought too difficult, draw something a little less complicated.

Arrange several objects of contrasting tints in a strong light, either with or without a cast shadow (which is easily arranged by intercepting the light with a few books, or a piece of cardboard). If it be a woman's hat with a contrasting plume or wing, either the hat should be dark and the feather light, or vice versa; or you may place together a man's black hat and a pair of light kid gloves, or some yellow and white flowers in a dark vase. A sunshade of brilliant colours lying open on the grass, half in shadow, half in light, provides an excellent model.

A coat, a cloak, and a hat, or three hats, all of similar colour, placed on chairs several paces apart, present a more fascinating and more difficult study of light and shade.

The reason why the separation of the articles makes the study more interesting and a hundred times more difficult is that there is a space between each object. And this