Where is your balance?

The Principles of design can be thought of as how the elements of design are combined in a composition to successfully bring it all together.
Yesterday I wrote about basic marks - point, line, shape and direction that could help you with your designs.
Today let’s look at balance, gradation and repetition.
Balance is -
How the weight of each block or element is distributed in the the composition.

The balance in “Dark Sister Trees” comes from the trees and hills. The trees are centered in the block and take 2/3 of the space, while the hills are the bottom 1/3 of the space. The balance is also achieved by using dark and light colors.
Gradation-
Gradation of size and direction produce linear perspective. The placement of the hills and trees.
Gradation of color from warm to cool and value from dark to light produce aerial perspective. The warm hills on the bottom and the cool sky behind the trees give that perspective.
Gradation adds interests and movement to shapes and can direct or control eye movement.
The gradation in “Dark Sister Trees” is used in all those ways.
Repetition -
Variation can be interesting, repetition without variation can be static. Repetition can create Rhythm.
I created rhythm with the repetition of the trees and the hills but because they are not the exact same shapes they are not static but interesting and eye moving. You want the eye to move across the plain of the scene.
You want to create interesting quilts. Understanding design can help you because you will feel more confident in what you make.
Tomorrow we will discuss more ideas about design.