Day 24 of our 30 Day January Challenge was Pathways to the Rectangle.
Pathways are directional marks and shapes for our eyes to follow across a drawing or painting. They are a powerful compositional tool to keep the viewer’s eyes engaged and moving around a composition. Connecting these pathways to the edge of the rectangle makes us more aware of the boundary of the picture plane and how it’s interacting with each of the elements within. Here are a few of my favorites.
Lately I’ve been noticing how many good paintings and drawings use repeating shapes within them, a motif. This motif seems to carry us through the composition, and give harmony and order to the shapes. I recently stumbled across this original drawing by Diego Rivera, posted on Facebook by Paul Hemminger of Bellingham Frameworks. It’s full …
A few days ago I posted about Banksy’s stunt at the Sotheby’s auction, in which his art piece supposedly self-shredded after being sold. The media explosion (including my own darned V.Note) has settled, and after the dust has cleared, I see very little that is worthy of our attentions here. The whole thing has a …
A trace monotype is made by laying paper down on an inked piece of plexiglass, then drawing a design on the back of the paper. The drawing tool presses the paper against the ink, making a dark line on the front of the paper. There’s often a smudgy look made by fingerprints, and a shadowy …
[image_with_animation image_url=”8549″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Several years ago I took a few Chinese Ink painting classes from Kiki MacInnis and Bang Jin Sun at Pratt. I learned about several styles of traditional and contemporary ink painting, none of which I can remember well enough to name at the moment (sound of shuffling through old …
30SAL Faves: Pathways to the Rectangle
Day 24 of our 30 Day January Challenge was Pathways to the Rectangle.
Pathways are directional marks and shapes for our eyes to follow across a drawing or painting. They are a powerful compositional tool to keep the viewer’s eyes engaged and moving around a composition. Connecting these pathways to the edge of the rectangle makes us more aware of the boundary of the picture plane and how it’s interacting with each of the elements within. Here are a few of my favorites.
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Motif & Repetitions in a Diego Rivera
Lately I’ve been noticing how many good paintings and drawings use repeating shapes within them, a motif. This motif seems to carry us through the composition, and give harmony and order to the shapes. I recently stumbled across this original drawing by Diego Rivera, posted on Facebook by Paul Hemminger of Bellingham Frameworks. It’s full …
Sellout Better
A few days ago I posted about Banksy’s stunt at the Sotheby’s auction, in which his art piece supposedly self-shredded after being sold. The media explosion (including my own darned V.Note) has settled, and after the dust has cleared, I see very little that is worthy of our attentions here. The whole thing has a …
Hedda Sterne, Trace Monotypes
A trace monotype is made by laying paper down on an inked piece of plexiglass, then drawing a design on the back of the paper. The drawing tool presses the paper against the ink, making a dark line on the front of the paper. There’s often a smudgy look made by fingerprints, and a shadowy …
Huang Yongyu; Spring Blossoms
[image_with_animation image_url=”8549″ alignment=”” animation=”None” box_shadow=”none” max_width=”100%”] Several years ago I took a few Chinese Ink painting classes from Kiki MacInnis and Bang Jin Sun at Pratt. I learned about several styles of traditional and contemporary ink painting, none of which I can remember well enough to name at the moment (sound of shuffling through old …