Shifting Emphasis

Series 18: Balancing Angles- S18L4

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Balance is a necessity. An unbalanced painting can make its viewer feel unstable.  Angles all moving in the same direction are especially bothersome.  We can use the principles of shifting emphasis to counter tilts causing a stasis in balance.

 This lesson is S18L4  Shifting Emphasis of the BALANCING ANGLES series.  Relocating the visual weight caused by converging lines by using the tools of repetition, variation and value contrast, Dianne reconstructs her study from Lesson 3 of this series towards a finished painting. In the final piece, the focal point is shifted, creating a more energized balance.

Balance is equilibrium of opposing forces.  If we are physically thrown off balance, we will fall.  If our psyche is thrown off balance, we become an emotional wreck.  It is a necessary force to facilitate out ability to comprehend and discern so that we can perceive and appreciate.  This series of tutorials focuses attention on ways to balance angles so that the visual movement in the painting is neither one-sided nor stuck in one place.

This series of tutorials is presented in two pairs.  Lessons 1 & 3 are studies, each showing how to use a principle to resolve an issue.  Lessons 2 & 4 each take the previous study to a conclusion, showing how to use those same principles to bring convert the study into a painting.

With every brushstroke we make, we are composing.  Just as with any creation, we begin with a structure, then as the art work begins we place shapes and colors according the concept with which we are working.  But the time comes when we move to a different level of thinking and decision-making–that moment when our intention becomes to bring clarity and resolution to the work.

Among Dianne’s passions about painting and teaching painting is how composing principles can expand creative freedom if the artist transcends the “rule” idea and instead, transforms the principle into a tool that opens creative doors.

Read Dianne’s Compose blog posts HERE.  Visit Dianne’s website and example her work HERE.  And visit her YouTube Channel with dozens of Quick Tips HERE.