Reflection and Surfaces

I was sitting at our kitchen island finishing dinner and found myself gazing at two tomatoes sitting on the black granite kitchen counter. Their mirror-like reflection was offering up two pairs! Not pears! Pairs! With every Live An Artful Life principle, it’s not just seeing, but the depth of seeing that really counts.

Reflections and surfaces have always been interesting and for some reason, in this case, I popped out of my seat and started changing things up in tomatoes land by sliding all kinds of surfaces under the tomatoes while in the same light. So, the following photos were all taken with my phone over the next about 4 minutes and are untouched.

#1 Tomatoes on black granite counter

#2 Tomatoes on dry cutting board

#3 Tomatoes on wet cutting board

Have a look at not only what the red and yellow tomatoes do to the surface they are on, but what the surface, in turn, may be doing to them. Note that reflections are darker, even if it is a surface other than black as in the counter in the first photo. The 2nd and 3rd photos are the same cutting board, but I wet the surface in the 3rd photo which not only raises saturation and glossiness but starts to offer light reflection lines along with the shadows seen in both photos. Note that neither surface, in this case, brings up highlights towards the bottom of the tomatoes.

#4 Tomatoes on gold aluminum cookie sheet

#5 Tomatoes on stainless steel cookie sheet

#6 Tomatoes on glossy decorative tray

Photos 4 and 5 are two different cookie sheets, the first is anodized gold aluminum and the second is stainless steel. Especially note with the stainless steel how the shadows diminish and the refections increase! Also, note how the highlights along towards the bottom of the tomatoes pop with the same intensity of the light from above.

The 6th photo has them on a glossy decorative tray which offers an interesting challenge as you see both the surface decoration and the refections. This is quite honestly a lot like painting the reflection of trees hanging over the water.

#7 Tomatoes on lavender glass plate

#8 Tomatoes on aqua glass plate

#9 Tomatoes on white ceramic plate

The last three photos are all using glass plates. The big difference past color is transparency photos 7 & 8 and the opaqueness found in #9. Note how the transparent ones not only offer refection color shifting, they offer a touch of lower highlights. With #9 you can see light reflections, but also notice the plate’s edge refection (highlight) on the left side of the yellow tomato. Note also how the shadows indicate the plate’s convex shape towards its outer perimeter.

There’s so much to see here, even if painting it isn’t your ultimate goal. The depth in which we see things ultimately makes us more aware of our surroundings and in the case of painting, absolutely increases our artistry. Being visual increases visual awareness and our mind’s ability to reach for things of interest.

Live an artful life,
Tom

P/S Read my blog every Tuesday!