• Special message: In our January livestream workshop, we'll be taking a deep dive into the tools we can learn to use to make all areas of our paintings play a significant role towards enhancing our main images. It's
something you can do when you compose with visual paths. With the Visual Paths Workshop coming up, I thought it would be fun to take a tour of one of the favorite visual paths used by artists for centuries. WHAT THE HECK IS A VISUAL PATH? Visual paths are ways of guiding a viewer's eye, of keeping it moving throughout a painting while staying within the work. For centuries, master painters have found ways to create these paths without our being conscious of them. One of the most famous paintings containing strong paths was done over six hundred years ago. The focal point is obviously the face of Jesus, but Leonardo has guided our eyes there by using Converging Lines in the architecture, the spread of Jesus' hands and suggested alignment of the tops of some of the
disciples' heads. Look at this: Converging Lines is just one of a number of methods we can use to guide the eye. Some of those methods have become classic, meaning artists over the centuries learned or discovered them as ways to keep everything in
the painting play a role in the entire piece. One of these is the Converging Path that causes our eyes to move back and forth between the focal point and other areas of the painting, always leading us back to the focal point. DAVID'S TAKE ON THE CONVERGING PATH David uses the Converging Path in this painting to place emphasis on the action rather than a person. I've indicated only the most obvious converging lines, but if you look closely, you will find more. The Oath of Horatii Jacques-Louis David circa 1787Now that you know what to look for, can you find the Converging Path in this painting by Richard Schmid? Apples Richard Schmid 20th centuryNow, look for the Converging Path I used in one of my paintings from 2008. York Falls in Early Autumn Dianne Mize 2008 The Converging Path is just one among many possibilities for guiding the eye. Over the next few Saturdays, we'll explore those most often used along with some that artists invent as they go along. I hope you will discover that visual paths have nothing to do with rules,but can be a creative way to compose your paintings. STAY TUNED...Enjoy a weekend of exploring paths! During my Language of Painting series, I explained the role of our visual elements. If you'd like to review those roles to better understand the behavior of elements, here are the links to each of those
discussions: Color --Value -- Shape -- Texture -- Size -- Line and Direction
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