What comes to mind when you hear the term "unity" in painting? Sometimes, we can comprehend the meaning of a term by exploring its opposite.
In life and in art, to fragment--the opposite of to unify-- is to fall apart, to break away from the whole, and the result is incompleteness, often
chaos. So how do we know if our painting is fragmenting and what can we do about it?
Here is where I would like very much to do an unkind thing and show some examples of fragmented painting, but it would be more humane to use another approach.
Let's look at a painting by John Singer Sargent and determine how, in this painting, he achieved unity.
Generally an art work will not fragment if it has...
- A strong connecting pattern of darks and lights that hold it together
- A good balance so that we don't feel topsy-turvy looking at the piece
- A visual path to avoid aimlessness
- A color harmony
Let's put this Sargent painting to the test.
STRONG CONNECTING PATTERN OF DARKS AND LIGHTS
Passed the first text. I've guided you with that brilliant blue-green line. See how his darkest darks are either merged together or are leading one to
another? And notice the pattern these makes.
A GOOD BALANCE SO WE DON'T FEEL TOPSY-TURVY
Balance is created by pairs of opposing directions and/or by the location of visual weight. I've indicate major directional movements
in orange and major weight elements in blue.
A VISUAL PATH TO AVOID AIMLESSNESS
A visual path is the overall visual movement. Sargent has used the directional movement of a triangular path.
One sure way to create color harmony is with the majority of a composition being rendered in neutralized hues. Look within this intensity graded wheel and you'll
be able to locate how Sargent has neutralized hues while still keeping them vibrant. A clue here is how he's juxtaposed warms and cools throughout. (I show how to do that in the Working with Warm & Cool Workshop coming up on January 29.)
Final test passed. Sargent knew how to use the composing process to create unity. It's not that difficult.
Challenge: Try creating a study from one of your reference photos where you use these same methods Sargent has used for creating visual
unity'
And have yourself a thriving weekend!
You can access the archive of all my newsletters at anytime by going HERE. |
|
|
|
