It has a color, a length, a direction, a width. Maybe the brush was loaded and left a thick trail. Maybe it was nearly dry and skipped across the surface.
Now make another blue brushstroke somewhere else.Something has changed. The first stroke is still exactly where it was, but now there is something to compare it to. The two strokes might be far apart, but their color connects them. Our attention moves from one to the other. They have a relationship.
What makes things belong together?
The two strokes don’t have to match. One might be long and the other short. One might be thick and the other thin. One blue might lean toward violet while the other leans toward green. Similarity can be enough. Add a third blue stroke somewhere else and the relationship gets stronger. We may begin to see the three strokes as a group. Color can do this. So can shape, value, size, direction, texture, edge, spacing, rhythm, repetition, gesture, or the movement of the brush. A curved stroke near the top of a painting can make us more aware of another curve near the bottom. A short vertical can answer another vertical. A rough, broken stroke can connect with another rough passage across the painting. Things can belong together without being next to each other.
Belonging without matching.
Look at Joan Mitchell’s Ladybug. The painting is full of arcs, dashes, drips, smears, and larger passages of paint. Similar colors appear in different places. Similar movements of the brush disappear and return.
Joan Mitchell courtesy MoMa Online Gallery
A yellow stroke makes us more aware of another yellow. A dark mark sends us looking for other dark marks. Curving gestures appear in different sizes and colors.
The marks don’t repeat exactly. That difference is important. If every stroke were identical, the painting would become a pattern. Instead, each mark resembles another in some ways and differs in others. They belong together without matching.
Look at a painting and find two marks that seem related. What made you connect them? Color? Shape? Direction? The way the brush moved? Then look again.
How different can two marks become and still seem to belong together?
Stay tuned next week for Part 3 of The Space Between Us
Ruthie V. Co-Founder, Creative Director Seattle Artist League
Welcome to the SAL Challenge Every day for the month of January, I’ll send out a creative challenge prompt. This series of challenges will be based on unusual vocabulary words. I’ll send out a word for the day, and you respond. Materials are artist’s choice. You can draw, paint, collage, sculpt your food, anything you …
Today’s TRANSCRIPTION Challenge: Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne #bacchusandariadne Post it To be eligible for prizes (yes prizes!) at the end of the month, post your work to Instagram with #30sal and #bacchusandariadne so we can find your post. To find more followers for your page, you can cut/paste these to your post: #30sal #bacchusandariadne #titian #transcription #classicalpainting #arthistory #vnotes #creativechallenge …
This is day 8 of our 30 day creative challenge! To learn more about this 30SAL challenge, click here. Today’s challenge is to study a jacket. Choose one aspect to focus on. For example, look at it for lines, shape, geometry, volume, or light and shadow. Don’t try to do all of them at the same …
Washing a brush seems simple enough: Step 1. Get the paint out Step 2. Congratulate yourself on your success. Obvious, no? I was years out of art school, and I had ruined several hundreds of dollars of brushes before I learned how to properly care for my tools. Below are two simple videos on brush care. …
The Space Between Us – Part 2
Make one blue brushstroke.
It has a color, a length, a direction, a width. Maybe the brush was loaded and left a thick trail. Maybe it was nearly dry and skipped across the surface.
Now make another blue brushstroke somewhere else.
What makes things belong together?
The two strokes don’t have to match. One might be long and the other short. One might be thick and the other thin. One blue might lean toward violet while the other leans toward green. Similarity can be enough. Add a third blue stroke somewhere else and the relationship gets stronger. We may begin to see the three strokes as a group.
Color can do this. So can shape, value, size, direction, texture, edge, spacing, rhythm, repetition, gesture, or the movement of the brush. A curved stroke near the top of a painting can make us more aware of another curve near the bottom. A short vertical can answer another vertical. A rough, broken stroke can connect with another rough passage across the painting. Things can belong together without being next to each other.
Belonging without matching.
Look at Joan Mitchell’s Ladybug. The painting is full of arcs, dashes, drips, smears, and larger passages of paint. Similar colors appear in different places. Similar movements of the brush disappear and return.
Joan Mitchell courtesy MoMa Online Gallery
A yellow stroke makes us more aware of another yellow. A dark mark sends us looking for other dark marks. Curving gestures appear in different sizes and colors.
The marks don’t repeat exactly. That difference is important. If every stroke were identical, the painting would become a pattern. Instead, each mark resembles another in some ways and differs in others. They belong together without matching.
Look at a painting and find two marks that seem related. What made you connect them? Color? Shape? Direction? The way the brush moved? Then look again.
How different can two marks become and still seem to belong together?
Stay tuned next week for Part 3 of The Space Between Us
Ruthie V.
Co-Founder, Creative Director
Seattle Artist League
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