Apr 08 2009
Variety is the spice of life.
Variety in painting spices up the art work. In composing a painting, the artist wants to tell you a story, (intentionally or otherwise) creating in your mind’s eye, the emotions and feelings that will make the painting a success. To do this, the artist must provide you with a path to follow (either through the use of a path of darks or lights, or shapes,) while at the same time providing some resting spots (soft edges, less detail, and muted colors) to give you time to take in the view without tiring your eyes.
The artist’s first task is to divide up the paper in an interesting manner through the use of a dominant shape followed by a medium-sized shape, and finally a smaller shape. We call this the shapes of the three bears; Papa, Momma and Baby. Hence, if we are painting flowers, we want a large flower at the focal point, and two others arranged to “point to the larger flower.”
The second task is to provide a dominant color. This color and its shades will cover at least 60% (or more) of the paintings. The accents of the complementary color are then used to provide a pathway for the viewer’s eye to make the journey into your painting, and preferably to stay there.
The third task is to provide a predominance of “light” or “dark.” That’s the story of a good painting: it all about light against dark and dark against light. Shadows (dark against light) can be used to bring the viewer into your picture, and draw the eye to its focal point. If the painter has done this, then the picture should be a success.
Figure 1 is a picture that I did entirely with only 1 tool: the palette knife. This painting is 16×20 inches and is in oils. There is a lot of paint on this canvas.
Figure 1 - Sunflowers and Hummingbird
