In his book Alla Prima, Richard Schmid says, "Every time we touch a brush to canvas we create edges." Mostly though, our tendency is to ignore the edges, focusing our attention on getting a particular color or shape right. So why does paying attention to edges matter anyway?
To begin with, every edge affects the way your painting is perceived.
Close your eyes. Count three Mississippi's, then open your eyes, look at the above illustration and notice where your eyes go first. Go ahead, do it!
Betcha they went to the upper left. Part of that is the strong value contrast, but the upper right image contains the same value contrast as the one of the left. What really happens is the hard (sharp) edges isolates the image, attracting your eye to it. Just as our ears notice a sudden loud sound, our eyes go to an image in isolation. Hard edges tend to isolate rather than merge. They are useful when that's
what we want to happen.
Notice in second and third rows, the same kind thing happens as with the top row, but with the value contrast being closer, the difference is more subtle.
Here's a little watercolor painting of mine. First, I want you to see the true version.
Now, here's a version where I've hardened most of the edges.
It's subtle, but the interpretation is totally different. In the original, the bird merges into the background, but in the second it sits in front of the background. It's the edges that make both things
happen. So, how are YOUR edges doing these days?
What's Happening at Dianne Mize Studio
We're getting ready to go live, but not on Facebook nor on YouTube. We're going live with a virtual classroom of students who have registered for a particular session.
As many of you know, I spent the first 45 years of my career in the classroom, teaching art courses in college and then in my private school. Since the day we started the video lessons three years ago, I've dreamed of a virtual classroom as close as possible to a in-person learning environment with people from all around the world.
And that's the kind of experience we're aiming for. These will be workshopping ideas, just like the video lessons do, but the difference is we'll be doing this together on-line. You'll be able to ask questions, not in a chat box, but
live.
This exiting adventure will begin in late August. Soon, I'll be sending you an email telling all about it and announcing the schedule. Stay
tuned!
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