“Obtains” in its old-fashioned sense means “to prevail, or to
gather in strength.” Another way to put it is: “Color increases
in saturation in the light relative to the shadow.” In the
Vermeer painting of the milkmaid, the colors of the yellow
bodice, blue apron, and orange pitcher are all relatively more
saturated in the light than in the shadow. This happens because
the color receptors of our eyes respond better in relatively
higher light levels. I was chanting the mantra “COLOR OBTAINS IN
THE LIGHT” (much to the befuddlement of passersby) while I was
working on this plein air sketch of a sign. Where the light
struck the top, I observed that the red was truly much more
vibrant. Like all hard-and-fast rules, this one has a couple of
exceptions. When a form of a given color is in shadow, sometimes
the shadow is filled with reflected light of a similar hue. For
example, the shadow side of this ochre-colored building in
Toledo, Spain is drenched in light reflected from an orange-
colored building across the stre