#4 Painting the Backlit Subject

Backlighting - it's magical to look at but murderously hard to paint. In this episode we tackle the painters version of staring into the sun while wrestling with values, technique and that pesky need for external validation. Welcome to your next artistic reckoning.

Watch the painting process (or just listen to the artist podcast) as award-winning Australian artists Anne Smerdon and Seabastion Toast take on the deceptively simple painting challenge of painting something backlit (where the subject is drenched in shadow and the light comes from behind). What sounds easy turns out to be a technical, emotional and philosophical minefield.

We discuss:

🎨 value (or tonal) massing and why tone does all the work when colour gets all the glory

🎨 painting techniques and losing contrast to gain atmosphere

🎨 the painting challenge and agony from working on a square canvas

🎨 the birth of abstract art and the realisation that maybe its not the subject but how we see it that matters

🎨 imposter syndrome in artists and the need for external validation

🎨 the joys of leaving things unsaid in your work

🎨 the art collection and art styles of artists Glenn Dean, Jeremy Lipking and Bonnard

Want to join the challenge? Share your work using #smerdontoast on Instagram, Tiktok or YouTube — we’d love to see it!

🖼️ Shop the artworks from each episode:

👉 www.annesmerdon.com

👉 www.seabastiontoast.com