When Bridget Riley first exhibited her dizzying black and white abstracts in the 1960s, people were amazed at how the lines and shapes appeared to move and vibrate right off the canvas. It was like she was painting with electricity itself! In 1967, she introduced Seurat-inspired color applications, and her paintings advanced in complexity and effects… but to keep this post from getting too long and the #30SAL challenge getting too complicated, I’m going to stick with Riley’s black and white artworks for today.
Bridget Riley’s work was part of the Op Art movement, short for Optical Art (not related to Pop Art). Op Art uses colors, shapes and patterns to create optical illusions. Below are some examples of her black and white paintings, arranged chronologically from 1961-1966.
Some artists who got up on the wrong side of the linen might feel Op Art is less art and more design, or visual science. The same was said about Seurat, and I admit there are some rough days when I am inclined to agree. If you relate to this view and you’d like to stretch out of it a bit, try thinking of it this way: painters use varying amounts of optical illusions in their artworks all the time. Painting itself is an illusion of something that is not flat (such as a still life), applied to something that is flat (such as a panel). For example, a painter might use perspective to make a table look like it’s coming forward in space, or apply a glaze to give an effect as if there is depth where there isn’t. A portrait drawing might implement contour lines to make the subject’s nose, cheeks, and chin look plump, or put a bit of bright red to pop, and attract the viewer’s eye. What sets Op Art apart from these more traditional artworks is that Op Art shifts the subject of conversation from the table, air, or face to the subject of human perception with line and color. Edited from the canvas has been the picture, not the soul of art itself. Look at a Bridget Riley painting in person and you will experience energy, time, depth, movement, vibration, and whether you admit it or not – you might also experience some happiness… or nausea. Either way, they are powerful artworks.
Bridget Riley, an interview from June 2, 2021
Today’s 30SAL VOCAB Challenge
Create a piece of black and white Op Art.
If you need a little help, below are some tutorials to get you started.
Materials are artist’s choice
#opart #30sal
Tutorial for an easy, and effective project (for people with paper and pen)
Tutorial for a quick, easy, clean, and effective project (for people with computers)
Tutorial for a slow and meditative project (for people with lots of time and patience)
Post it
To be eligible for prizes (yes prizes!) at the end of the month, post your work to Instagram with #30sal and #opart so we can find your post.
To find more followers for your page, you can cut/paste these to your post:
[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][image_with_animation image_url=”10149″ alignment=”center” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”][divider line_type=”No Line” custom_height=”20″][vc_column_text]For today’s challenge you’ll need some paper and a pen (felt tipped pens work great for this) so that you can draw a Continuous Line, a line that goes on and …
Exercise your creativity This SAL Challenge is a vocabulary based creative challenge every day for January. Materials are artist’s choice. You can draw, paint, sew, collage, sculpt your food, anything you want. See below for today’s creative challenge. Set the timer for 20 minutes and see what happens. MUTATUS MUTANDIS 1 : with the necessary changes …
Today’s OBSERVATIONAL Challenge: Make a quick gesture drawing from observation without lifting your drawing utensil. Instead of moving around the outline, let your line wonder across the surface of the form. Think about how to translate 3 dimensional form to a flat piece of paper. Post your work To be eligible for prizes, (yes prizes!) …
[vc_row type=”in_container” full_screen_row_position=”middle” scene_position=”center” text_color=”dark” text_align=”left” overlay_strength=”0.3″][vc_column column_padding=”no-extra-padding” column_padding_position=”all” background_color_opacity=”1″ background_hover_color_opacity=”1″ column_shadow=”none” width=”1/1″ tablet_text_alignment=”default” phone_text_alignment=”default” column_border_width=”none” column_border_style=”solid”][vc_column_text]I posted yesterday about the burning of Notre Dame. The medieval cathedral was home to many paintings, musical instruments, religious relics, and stained glass, and the building itself was a work of art. Since yesterday’s post, I’ve been collecting …
Day 13: Op Art #30SAL
Bridget Riley’s Op Art
When Bridget Riley first exhibited her dizzying black and white abstracts in the 1960s, people were amazed at how the lines and shapes appeared to move and vibrate right off the canvas. It was like she was painting with electricity itself! In 1967, she introduced Seurat-inspired color applications, and her paintings advanced in complexity and effects… but to keep this post from getting too long and the #30SAL challenge getting too complicated, I’m going to stick with Riley’s black and white artworks for today.
Bridget Riley’s work was part of the Op Art movement, short for Optical Art (not related to Pop Art). Op Art uses colors, shapes and patterns to create optical illusions. Below are some examples of her black and white paintings, arranged chronologically from 1961-1966.
Some artists who got up on the wrong side of the linen might feel Op Art is less art and more design, or visual science. The same was said about Seurat, and I admit there are some rough days when I am inclined to agree. If you relate to this view and you’d like to stretch out of it a bit, try thinking of it this way: painters use varying amounts of optical illusions in their artworks all the time. Painting itself is an illusion of something that is not flat (such as a still life), applied to something that is flat (such as a panel). For example, a painter might use perspective to make a table look like it’s coming forward in space, or apply a glaze to give an effect as if there is depth where there isn’t. A portrait drawing might implement contour lines to make the subject’s nose, cheeks, and chin look plump, or put a bit of bright red to pop, and attract the viewer’s eye. What sets Op Art apart from these more traditional artworks is that Op Art shifts the subject of conversation from the table, air, or face to the subject of human perception with line and color. Edited from the canvas has been the picture, not the soul of art itself. Look at a Bridget Riley painting in person and you will experience energy, time, depth, movement, vibration, and whether you admit it or not – you might also experience some happiness… or nausea. Either way, they are powerful artworks.
Today’s 30SAL VOCAB Challenge
Create a piece of black and white Op Art.
If you need a little help, below are some tutorials to get you started.
Materials are artist’s choice
#opart #30sal
Post it
To be eligible for prizes (yes prizes!) at the end of the month, post your work to Instagram with #30sal and #opart so we can find your post.
To find more followers for your page, you can cut/paste these to your post:
#30sal #opart #opticalillusion #bridgetriley #vnotes #creativechallenge #januarychallenge #drawingchallenge #drawing #art #sketch #artchallenge #artist #draw #artistsoninstagram #sketchbook #instaart #artwork #drawingoftheday #dailydrawing #oilpainting #mixedmedia #drawingsketch #artoftheday #creativity
Padlet
Don’t have Instagram? Post your work to Padlet.
DAY 13: OP ART https://seattleartistleague.padlet.org/SAL/ky6dylz5wp7vi7uq
DAY 12: GEORGE WASHINGTON https://seattleartistleague.padlet.org/SAL/ewht7nr1bszm24sy
DAY 11: BEFORE AND AFTER https://seattleartistleague.padlet.org/SAL/dvmaz3zn3za0146v
Deadline for Prizes
Deadline for submissions: 3 days after each challenge post.
January prize winners will be announced in February.
To learn more about the 30SAL Challenge, click here.
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