Wednesday, January 4, 2012

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.
friedadarksisters
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.

6 comments:

sue viall said...

I feel like I am taking a class with you ,your perspective on color and design is why you are where you are today,, practice or just a natural ???

Frieda Anderson said...

I believe some of it is natural, but most of it is practice. I know we can all be better and do better work the more work we do. :)

Anonymous said...

Today's information is really helpful! I get how the scale of the dark, with it's weight from the color, sort of anchors the piece. The lightness of the colors of the trees and sky pull the eye upward, and your proportions of trees vs the hills is perfect. How do you know, if not actually looking at a photo, what that proportion should be in order to look right?

My favorite part is the brightly colored leaves, which draws the eye to the top. I see the repetition in the leaves, but the random scattering of them shows movement and allows the eye to follow the movement and cover the scene again.

I can hardly wait for tomorrow's post! Thank you!

Frieda Anderson said...

YOU GOT IT Mary, everything you said is right on.
It is always a good rule of thumb that 2/3 to 1/3 proportion.
And sometimes I eye ball the proportion.
And I wanted to add in the bright leaves to do just that draw the eye from the bottom up.
Thanks for your insight.

Anonymous said...

Thanks!!!! Yes! I think that I'm going to have to print off these art lessons and comments so that I can refer back to them later. Your rule of thumb for the 1/3 to 2/3's makes sense to the mathematical side of my brain, though I'm not sure that I understand why that is so about the "rule" and why that works. Some things, I am learning as I get older, just need to be taken at face value instead of needing to be gotten to the bottom of, if that makes sense.

I love these lessons and am SO thankful for your willingness to share and teach them! It's a big key that I've been missing, and I'm certain that my projects will improve as I learn them. Thank you!

Meg said...

thanks for the "alphabet certificate of positivity"
I have made a copy and it is on the cork board in my studio!
You are so talented and a very special and lovely woman. I am learning so much.
Meg

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