Creative Wellness at Home - Week 7
Lightness, darkness, shadows and reflections
This week, we’re drawing our mindful attention to light and shadows.
Thinking about light and shade
What is a shadow? A shadow is an area of darkness where light is blocked from hitting a surface. Shadows are affected by the type of light source and where the light is coming from. Everything we see is actually light reflecting off of surfaces. A shadow is quite simply, an absence of light.
For this week’s activity, we’ll be drawing our attention to light, shade, and reflection using everyday objects and sources of light.
Let’s start with a mindfulness practice
Find some everyday objects around the house.
Pick up an object and hold it in your hands and focus on it for a few moments.
Look at the shape of the object. Where are the edges? Are the edges hard or soft?
What colour is the object?
Look at the object in terms of light and shade. Where does the light fall on the object? Are there any parts of the object that are shiny or reflective? Are there parts of the object that are dark?
Move the object around to see how the light may shift the way the object looks.
Shadow drawing
For this drawing activity, you’ll need: a source of light (such as a lamp, or the sun), a piece of paper, and a pencil. If you have coloured pencils or markers, you can add colour to your drawing.
Place your piece of paper under a source of light and carefully place your objects so they cast a shadow on the paper.
Outline the shadow with your pencil.
Once you have outlined your shadows, you can colour them in.
Try a combination of different objects and colour your outlines with different colours to create abstract patterns.
You might also want to go outdoors to find and draw shadows created by the sun and elements of nature, such as plants or grass.
Some inspiration
See how creative you can get with light and shade with ‘Shadowology’ artist, Vincent Bal.
Don’t forget to send us your photos or drawings.
Send them to creativeresilienceinnerwest@gmail.com.
Competition reminder!
A reminder that our creative competition is open until the end of October. Send us any of your creative works for the chance to win a Coles Myer gift card.
See the full details on how to enter here.
We hope you are enjoying the activities!
The Creative Wellness at Home project is brought to you by Community and Cultural Connections Inc (CCCi) and funded with support from Inner West Council.