Wendy Ervin Fine Art
  • Home
  • New! Latest Paintings
  • About
  • Paintings
    • Landscapes and Seascapes
    • Cityscape and Figurative
    • Flora and Fauna
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Blog

Balancing Act

5/24/2018

0 Comments

 
This is the 4th installment of my blog posts on painting theory/composition and the topic now is the importance of developing balance in the picture plane. The goal of an artist is to create a painting that is not only visually pleasing but also stays interesting to the viewer by generating tension and dynamic balance. In an earlier post I explained how diagonal sight lines are much more interesting to our brains, as are irregular intervals, sizes, and shapes. The same is true for balance: a painting with all the information on one side and a large, essentially blank area on the other is not as successful as one that moves the eye across the central axis toward additional information that adds to the story-telling. For example, a landscape may have a barn as a focal point, but also include a road leading to it, a grove of trees in the distance, even a small pond...all these elements carefully arranged to direct the eye around the entire painting (and ideally leading the eye back to the focal point)
Picture
In "Tuscany Terraces" I chose the bright, small flowering almond tree on the lower right as the main idea, but then used the irregular lines of the terraced hillside to lead the eye left, across the center, to the copse of cypress and cherry trees that serve to lead the viewer up and along the slightly right-sloping distant trees back to the little almond. The weight of the trees on the left is balanced by the color intensity and focal point on the right. Also, the distance hills fill an otherwise empty top third of the canvas and add to a feeling of depth.

PictureWaterwheel, L'isle sur la Sorgue
This painting of the ancient waterwheel in a small village in Provence, France has a large visual structure filling most of the canvas, but it's easy to see all the diagonal sightlines creating the desired tension and interest. Where do you find your eye going to first? Mine goes to the cascade of water falling through the erosion carved in the stone. Look at the bottom of that cascade and you will see a line of shadow and light pointing your attention back to the waterwheel, then up and around the wheel and back to the cascade. The far right side of this painting finishes the story by adding a little information of where the water is coming from and the village it's in. Because rules of perspective sends the diagonal rooflines out of the picture planes, I had to soften those edges and strengthen the sidewalk tree branches to be interesting enough that they stop the eye and allow the viewer to return again to the waterwheel.

PictureFrench Market Abundance

In some ways, this painting of a market display in Provence is more of a still life than a scape, but my hope was to capture the feeling I had when I viewed all the baskets and baskets of colors, shapes, smells... What is working composition-wise in this painting? There are lots of diagonals, lots of irregular shapes; the viewing eye does get led around the painting. Is there balance? A focal point? The elements of composition are much less obvious. This painting was a challenge for me, but I went for it and really like the result. I still find myself wondering if I followed the "rules" or broke them. Honestly, I wouldn't change a thing! But I include this as an example of what an artist wrestles with when deciding how to compose a painting that tells the story.

Thank you for reading my blog!! (If you don't want to miss a post you can sign up to receive them via email by filling out the subscribe box to the right.)
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Picture

    Hello! My name is Wendy and I am passionate about oil painting! Whether in the studio or out in Mother Nature, I get lost in the experience of capturing on canvas the moment and the feel of what I am painting. I pour my love and energy into every single piece of artwork and I hope it shows! This blog is a place where I can use words to talk about art, painting, life, faith, things that make me laugh, and things that inspire. I love every response, so don't be shy about leaving a comment...

    Archives

    December 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    April 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013

    Categories

    All
    Artist Workshops

copyright © 2013
  • Home
  • New! Latest Paintings
  • About
  • Paintings
    • Landscapes and Seascapes
    • Cityscape and Figurative
    • Flora and Fauna
  • Events
  • Contact
  • Blog