SUBJECT TREATMENT: More on the Line

Landscape With Barn. Study for Collage

Approaches or treatments of a subject, can be applied to parts of the whole, or to the entire subject, or to the picture plane layout. Emphasis on line can be one approach to subject treatment.

In the above study, straight lines are contrasted with organic lines in the picture plane. The verticals and horizontals define shapes that are easily "read" as architectural shapes. Although diagonal lines exist here, they do not imply depth. Only the placement of geometric shapes above each other suggests possible three dimensional space, such as is seen in primitive painting.

In my current Series of work, my goal is to explore abstraction and composition, and to not attempt to depict a recognizable subject (at least in the beginning).

The geometric shapes were created in a children's program, Kid Pix which alters the imagery within the format with random generated options. Using geometric options, I saved one version and imported it into a Photoshop document and layered it over an experimentally created painted background. Sections of the geometric design were removed, and others retained. I chose to emphasize several shapes, including the barn.

Generally, in my current Series of Abstractions, however, I have deliberately destroyed recognizable shapes or images. I tend to become entrapped by recognizable imagery and unable to sacrifice elements which are counter to creating a better composition. But for now, I am trying to stay true to my purpose of becoming less dependent upon realism, in order to develop a better sense of pure composition.

The mind interprets visual information from the natural world, whether it was purposely created or not. Confronted with total non objective imagery, or abstraction, many viewers feel some discomfort. Impressionistic abstraction which resembles the familiar world is usually better received.

If one looks at the image of Barn on Marsh Road in my post of Jan. 13, the diagonal lines of the roofs are created by perspective and the viewer "reads" these as structures receding in space or distance.

Santa Fe Adobe.

This small painting, which combines a rendering of a large adobe structure, was designed with an overlay of grid-like checks. I began that series to learn how much three dimensional information must be retained in order to "read" an image as a solid recognizable form. Using checks is not unlike altering the surface texture of a landscape with spatters, drips, brush strokes and knife impressions.

The grid would normally be completely two dimensional. To enhance the building shape, I turned the lines of some grid surfaces to those matching the angles of the adobe walls.Vertical and horizontal lines often imply architecture, but in addition, diagonal lines often suggest depth.

What I learned was, the grid arrangement had to comply with and enhance the realistic image in order for the combination to be successful as a composition. Textures or patterns may be exciting, but they do not in themselves make a finished composition.

Other lines, such as Crosshatching, Gestural or continuous (scribbled) lines, parallel lines, and many other uses of line can be used to define the surface of the subject. When these lines are built up to create texture, they may also create shading, which also can imply three dimensional space. This shading and tone, or light to dark value, also defines depth. The direction of the line upon the surface of the subject helps define its form, contours and depth.

Extended Line

Some artists have used the lines of a subject’s boundaries, and extended them.

Architectural forms easily lend themselves to use of the extended line. Lionel Feininger’s work was largely characterized by the use of line to define space and dimension. He used perspective, and diagonal lines to inform the viewer about implied depth his forms occupied. He also extended lines to divide and organize the two- dimensional space within the picture plane.

Images and writing are the Copyright of Ruth Zachary.

SUBJECT TREATMENT: LINE

Daughters of the Earth. Pen and Ink.

LINE

Line is probably the most primitive method of creating shapes, maps, or writing. The mind recognizes the edges of shapes as they stand out against a background. Lines are formed by edges of things. As children we usually made a line indicate a shape or several shapes to make a human form, a house, the ground, a tree, and the sun, before filling in those shapes with color.

Line as a way of indicating a subject has evolved through the ages, so that lines and dots also form tones, shadows and suggest three dimensions even though we draw in two dimensions.

The Phoenix Always Rises. Pen and Ink

Line does not have to be limited to black on white. If you find line a natural way of expression for you, try using color. Try widening your lines. Draw in pastel, crayon, or the side of a 2 " square piece of mat board dipped in watercolor. Make lines and areas of color with the square of mat board. Think of using white on black or on a deep solid color.

Scratch board is a chalk coated board which if colored with inks can be scratched through, making white lines, looking like pen and ink in reverse.

Lines can be painted with a brush. Go back a few posts in this blog (Dec. 29) to look at the bottle still life, which used outlined shapes and solid flat shapes shaded in with paint to suggest dimension, without much modeling on the surface. One object was modeled in three dimensions to create a contrast and draw the eye to that focal point.

When looking at objects in a painting or in real life, notice the contours and boundaries. These are lines which have direction and movement. Lines draw the eye in the direction they point toward. The goal of an artist is to keep the viewer's attention inside the picture plane long enough to see everything you placed there. Controlling the lines in your composition will help to do this. Lines with the most contrast are the most noticable.

Diagonal lines tend to create an illusion of depth, or perspective. Diagonal strokes behind a figure give the impression that the space behind the person or object is not flat, and when used on the the figure will imply the figure has dimension, as well.

There also needs to be a place where the eye may comfortably leave the frame if desired, or quiet places within the picture plane which create a sense of peace, or a welcome place of rest for the viewer.

Writing and Images in this blog are the property of Ruth Zachary.

FORMAT SHAPES AND DIVISIONS

Atargatis. Chine Colle. An example of vertical divisions within a horizontal rectangular composition. Notice the horizontal fish border at top.

Most picture plane surfaces are rectangular or square. Placement of your subject within these shapes is related to the success of your finished composition. If you are depicting realistic subject matter, your choice of placement in a horizontal or vertical orientation is important if you are to present your subject to the best advantage. If your work is abstract or non-objective, you can make the work fit the shape.

Where the focal points are located within this picture plane is also important.

As mentioned in the last blog post, it is possible to vary the shape of your composition within the picture plane by creating various format shapes within the outer picture plane boundaries.

The space within the picture plane shape or format shape may be divided in some general ways:

•Rectangles and squares. Most compositions will conform to a rectangular or square shape with either a Horizontal format or Vertical format.


Format Division
Within the inner format shape, the space may be delineated and characterized by Horizontal, vertical, diagonal or organic divisions, or a combination of all of these. Generally the shapes within the composition characterize these kinds of divisions, even when they are organic,
or represent the major boundaries of the subject.

Barn on Marsh Road. Mixed Water Media. This composition uses the diagonals of perspective to divide the picture plane. The shorelines, the barn roofs, reflections and receding foliage create the illusion of depth, and also lead the eye into the distance.

Other kinds of format divisions:
•Geometric Grids and diamond grids can be used to divide the picture plane.
•Other geometric shapes, triangular, hexagonal, etc.
•Circular, arched, or oval shapes.
•Organic divisions.
•Combinations.

Bridge. Created in a children's computer program, KidPix, and later enhanced using Appleworks and Photoshop. Note how the geometric compostion remains 2-dimensional in spite of many diagonal lines throughout.

Images and Writing are created by Ruth Zachary and are not to be copied without her permission.

DESIGNING THE PICTURE PLANE

Picture Plane shapes

The usual picture plane shapes are rectangular, vertical, horizontal, square, or sometimes round or oval. If a bias develops for one shape, it may be challenging to arbitrarily work with another shape. Some artists even create irregular shapes for their picture plane, perhaps to accent an element depicted.

It is possible to create a specific shape within the given picture plane, leaving a neutral boundary area around the main composition. Again, Format shapes may be geometric, circular, rectangular, organic, symmetrical, assymmetrical, or may spill out of the picture's inner boundary, as in the image below, Chameleon.

Summer Lace. Collagraph

Artists are accustomed to planning art on paper knowing it will be matted when framing. Matting can be used to alter the compositional shape. When creating art on a board or canvas, it is also a good idea to create a quieter area at the outer edges of the composition, to visually separate the image area from the frame.

Format shapes can be designed on canvas, board and paper surfaces, either in advance of working, or afterward. They can be circular, oval, arched, notched, rectangular, combination shapes, organic, etc. as with the above listed possibilities.














Chameleon. Computer Photo Montage.

It is possible to incorporate a composition which falls within an organic shape, as with the etching below, Damselflight. The lower area contains less imagery but the top is more active near the edges. This piece is always presented with a mat.

Format division as another approach to design. The picture plane can be purposely divided into segments for another effect, and for a new design challenge or approach. They can be geometric or organic. This can occur with both realism and abstract work.

Even if the format is not obviously separated by lines, the elements within can still form divisions within the picture plane. Divisions can be geometric, or they can be organic or a combination of both.

Damselflight. Etching

I'll Never Come This Way Again.
Watercolor and collage.

Consider the various options for dividing the format of a composition. Divisions help to organize elements into an order which can make the whole more interesting to view. Look at format shapes and divisions in galleries, art shows, note cards, architecture, and book illustrations. Consider using some of them.

The next blog posts will feature illustrations of different kinds of format divisions.

Images and Writing are the Copyright of Ruth Zachary.

COMPOSITION IN REALISTIC ART

Faded Photo of the House on Norris Road

House on Norris Road. Computer Adjusted Photo
Colors were enhanced, contrast increased, and some
window details were created by copying parts of them
where details were absent.

The Country Doctor's Home. Watercolor.

The image was enlarged and painted from the adjusted
photo. Areas of watercolor were loosely splashed onto
the surface, before refining the desired details. Some areas
were left vague to encourage the viewer's eye to move
around within the picture plane.

Composition in Realism

Realism is sometimes thought to be only copying nature by abstract artists or artists working from imagination. But anyone who had worked in darkroom photography knows there is often an elaborate manipulation of light, dark, contrast, texture, emphasis, placement of elements through cropping, dodging and burning, and by employing other means before a photograph is finished. The result is far from the first impression of nature.

The artist who paints consciously to create a skillful composition has controlled the combination of elements within the picture plane, until it is no longer simply a “copy” of nature.Successful realistic painters do this as well, even those using photographs as a means of beginning.

Realistic artists also bring together disparate elements to create one painting, although the final version may appear to be completely realistic in presentation.

The above painting used both indirect impressionistic methods and selected areas of directly painted realistic detail to blend both into a completed composition.

Recommended Books: For two dimensional artists seeking fresh approaches for presenting realistic subjects, I recommend:

Creative Landscape Painting by Edward Betts. (Watson Guptill 1978) and
Concept and Composition by Fritz Henning, (North Light Publishers 1983)

Many of these approaches can be applied to still life, figurative work, and other subjects as well as landscape painting.

Images and Writing are the exclusive Copyright of Ruth Zachary.

WHAT IS STYLE?

WHAT IS STYLE?

Once I enrolled in a beginning photography art center class, taught by Gary Ciadella.
He sent us out to snap pictures of things, scenes, people, etc. which attracted us. When we returned with our newly developed black and whites, he projected our images on a screen.

I would never have dreamed beginners would display a group of pictures with distinctive characteristics different from every other person in the class, but that was what emerged! Every person displayed certain tendencies for certain types of composition, for either very dark or very high key scenes, and of course a preference for particular subject categories. Some compositions seemed to slide off the bottom of the format. Some were contained within tight boundaries. There were many more of these traits we all could identify and the differences between us were apparent .

I would define style as the unique combination of preferences, choices, or biases the artist employs during the creative process. This may include media, color choices, compositional preferences. Working within certain limitations may create a certain commonality in the work, interpreted as style. Subject matter, format shapes, intimate views, far away vistas, and more come into play. Much of this process is like hand-writing and is just as unique.

After that time, I never tried to “develop a unique style.” I was assured my style was already there, and that making every piece of art the best I could was a more important goal.

I am convinced that working diligently will ensure every artist will develop his or her own unique style. My advice to the beginner is to learn what you can from others, but to trust the result will still be your own original expression.

Work done in various media each may have the look of a different style. My own choice is to mix media and to choose the materials and tools which express in the best way I know the particular effect I am going for. It may appear sometimes as if I have no particular style, but that is a conscious choice. I can see direct relationships between one series and the next, and how what I have just learned is translated into the next body of work. I can articulate what those discoveries were.


MESSAGE

Later in the class mentioned above, Gary Ciadella showed us a series of photographs by world-renouned photographers. He asked us what the artists were saying with their pictures. We began to comprehend many possible meanings in these images.

Every piece of artwork says something, even if it is only about an abstract arrangement of shapes and colors. Awareness of meanings conveyed through images is inescapable for me since that time. Symbolism through imagery is absorbed even when the viewer is not aware. Advertisers are aware of this and use it all the time. If you are aware, you can resist their efforts to make you buy.

Sometimes an artist is aware of the message or idea they are trying to express. Sometimes a piece will say something else to the viewer. When more than one person sees something in your work you did not see before, and several interpret this idea the same way, it offers an opportunity to learn about what you are subconsciously saying with your work.

These two classes in photography affected all the artwork I created from that time on. To see the work of my former teacher, Gary Ciadella, click the links below.

www.carrciadella.com www.exclusivelyblackandwhite.com

DO YOU DEFINE YOURSELF AS AN ARTIST? A-1

Draft Horses. Mixed Media

How do you Define Yourself ?

I believe if anyone practices an art form they are an artist. Doing it well may simply require finding the best means of expression for your unique set of abilities, and dedicating time to it.
There are too many preconceptions about art and artists. My advice, choose which ideas are valid for you and discard the rest.

Success can be measured in the joy derived from the process of doing. It may mean achieving short or long term goals.

It may require having a self sustaining income from creating art, but it would be a very deprived world if only those who made a living, made art for all the rest of us.Those who are artists by avocation, contribute a great deal to the world at large.

Talent is a combination of traits and abilities. No one is born with their potential fully developed and ready to be expressed in a given area.

Aptitudes of many kinds can translate into the ability to make aesthetically pleasing art;

Visual orientation
Appreciation for color
An ability to draw
Manual dexterity
Appreciation for beauty
A desire to learn
Adaptability
A drive to express
The ability to abstract
A direct and/or indirect working style.
A creative mind
Motivation
Understanding of art
A love of materials
Mechanical ability
A hard worker and More.

Attitude. Even though different people have varying degrees of talent, it is possible for people with many different traits to prevail as artists because of attitudes including;

Passion for joyful creation
Desire to learn
Motivated to finish
Steadfast dedication
Sees “failures” as opportunities
Sees art as play or meaningful work
Belief in one’s ultimate success
Flexibility
Desire to please
Patience and More.

Experience Learning is accumulated through doing.
Skill is improved by practice.
Training may be obtained in a variety of venues. Formal training, private lessons, art center classes, specialized workshops, learning from books, working with a peer group, or just plain observation can hone ones abilities. Understanding is facilitated by a conscious effort to be aware, and to apply what has been learned one step at a time and over time.
Process evolves in the practice of making art. It includes the materials and techniques used, but it also includes inspiration, joy of doing, passion for expression of an idea, drive to achieve a goal, and it includes satisfaction in steps achieved well and determination to improve upon and learn from efforts which failed.

The Montage Workbook A-1. All rights reserved by Ruth Zachary.

Pages from the Montage Workbook will be lettered and numbered so they can be filed in logical sequence. Comments are welcomed.

MONTAGE WORKBOOK SERIES - Introduction 1

Norris Road House. Watercolor, Computer Altered.

Introduction

The motivation for writing this weblog came from many people who have seen my work, and who have asked how it was done. I want to share this knowledge.

My methods have evolved through years of experimentation with many media, as well as through exposure in various classes and workshops related to a variety of media. In attempting to classify what I have learned, it also appears the evolution of my own learning experiences provided a sequence which could be useful in any artist's aesthetic development and awareness. An explanation of a process for one piece could not apply to all. I have kept extensive notes over time, useful for reference, but also made easily available for organizing into a catalogue of materials, approaches and techniques.

There are a variety of approaches to designing a piece of artwork, which I will share. I plan to include basic principles of design and composition. I will attempt to increase awareness of the message(s) that is conveyed by an image to the viewer. I hope, as well, to address some of the creative issues artists encounter.

Sharing what I have learned about mixed media, approaches to composition, collage and montage is the focus of this blog. I hope others will be able to use this information.

Comments are welcomed.


Images and writing are the exclusive property and Copyright of Ruth Zachary.