Have you heard of alternation as a composing principle? A rarely discussed design tool, alternation can sometimes be the very method you need for moving the
viewer’s eye through your painting, or making dull areas interesting. It means a sequence of changes in direction.
Here are some examples we see every day.
LET'S LOOK AT ALTERNATING BRUSHSTROKES
When painting, there are many ways to use alternation. One of the most dynamic is alternating brushstrokes. Among our contemporary painters, one who is a master of
brushstroke alternation is Qiang Huang. Let's take a look at his "Demo at Huntsville 2016 1"
Here are two sections from Qiang's background. Look at the alternation of stroke directions, then glance back at the whole painting and notice how those sequences of alternating
stroke direction give movement to the painting.
Here's a similar analysis of Qiang's pear on the right.
If you remove your attention from the imagery in Qiang's demo and focus only on his alternating brushstrokes, you will see how much
energy just his brushstroke alternating gives to this piece.
- Set up a palette of a yellow, such as cadmium yellow light or hansa yellow light, violet and white.
- Do a study of the pear below where, like Qiang Huang, every brushtroke you make moves in a different direction than the previous one.
- You might even do a study of Qiang's brushstroke directions first. Wouldn't hurt.
Wishing you a weekend of wonder!
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