Catch the Light Correctly

Last week  I painted the catch lights on my collie's eyes and nose.  I had to be sure the paint was well dried before dragging it around under my needle.

Do you know how to do catch lights?  They are the reflection of light or flash from the shiny cornea of the eye.  If you quilt, draw or paint people or animals they are very important.  They make the eyes come alive and look at you.  In people the catchlights are in the same place in both eyes.  That is, they are both at 2:00 or maybe 11:00 depending on the position of the head or the light, but always the same in both eyes.

Digital painting of my grandaughter.  Catchlights at 11:00.

Dogs are different.  Their catch lights are the mirror image of each other.  Thus, if the right eye has it at 1:00 then the left eye will have it at 11:00.  It makes them look a bit crosseyed sometimes, but their eyes are positioned in their skulls differently than those of humans so the reflections are different.

Zoey's catch lights are both closer to her nose than to her ears.
(Digital painting)

With dogs I go from a photo.  Lady, the collie has hers really weirdly located, but the camera doesn't lie.  She really looks crosseyed, but collies are like that!

Photo of Lady.

Sew some happy seams this week.  I wish that your portraits will not be crosseyed (unless they are supposed to be that way).