What do the melodies of "Three Blind Mice" and "Row, Row, Row Your Boat" have in common? Answer: they can be sung in a round. Two distinct tunes can work together at the same time without conflicting with each other. (Don't we Americans
wish our Congress could learn to do that!) The method of juxtaposing two or more voices in music is called counterpoint.
We use counterpoint in painting, too, but it works differently than in music. Instead of each part moving parallel and independent of the other in painting,
elements move in opposing directions, each balancing the other. A vertical will counter a horizontal and vice versa; a diagonal will counter another diagonal moving in an opposite direction.
JOHN AND RICHARD KNEW IT WELL John Singer Sargent was a master of counterpoint. In his painting A Hotel Room, the vertical movements in the background are counter balanced by the
horizontal movements on the floor.
Richard Schmid is another painter who often uses counterpoint. Whereas Sargent has applied a horizontal to counter verticals, Schmid, in Wildflowers, uses opposing
diagonals: the tilt of the large flower on the left is countered by the tilt of the smaller one on the right.
Counterpoint in painting works to give stability by keeping our images visually balanced.
Below is a photograph in which most of the major images are moving in the same direction. Create a study in which you use counterpoint by changing the direction of some of
them (like Schmid has done) for a stable balance.
Have yourselves a spectacular weekend!
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Happy Painting,
Dianne
dianne@diannemize.com
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