Mini Art School Blog Post 3-pt 1

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WSINYE- Chapter 5- “Try This” #2

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Elements:

Space: I love how the woman and the smoke are the only images in this painting and the artist is not afraid of the empty space and doesn’t try to clutter the image.

Scale/Size: The image could have been turned vertically and filled up the whole page, but the author decided to make the woman smaller and that’s part of the beauty of this image.

Color: The woman herself is pretty plain but her hair and sash stand out, making her come alive for me.

Principles:

Focal Point: There is clearly only one focal point in this image and the observer can tell exactly where it is.

Contrast: Contrast here is between the black background and the light colored woman. Contrast is also between the dull color of her dress and the bright color of her hair and her sash.

Balance: This is an example of an asymmetrical, off center design. While this may not work for a lot of images, in this case the result is beautiful

Movement: The cigarette smoke makes the eyes continue moving to the right.

Unity: Everything in this image just seems to flow well together. There is nothing random or dramatic that jumps out at you and disrupts the calm effect of the image.

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Elements:

Space: The artist is not afraid to leave white space at the top of the image, above the monument and that gives the image room to breathe.

Lines:

Size/ Scale: Even though everyone is looking at the monument, it is clearly the one of the smaller things in this image. The scale is perfect! The image is more about capturing the people looking down rather than the monument itself.

Color and Value: The image is from the segregation era and so it is appropriate that it is in black and white. It makes the image more dramatic. The other great thing about the color is that it’s not just white and dark black; there are ranges and shades of gray to emphasize certain points.

Principles:

Focal Point: While it’s not the main point of the image, the focal point (the monument) is very easy to find.

Contrast: Since this is a black and white image the contrast is between these opposing colors. I don’t think this image would be as powerful in color.

Balance: This image is symmetrical, meaning if I cut it in half, each side will pretty much have the same thing. As a scientist I certainly respect “bilateral symmetry”!

Movement: The invisible lines guide your view to the monument.

Unity: This may be a weird interpretation but the unity in this image comes from the unified direction everyone is looking. At the same time, the monument, the people, the flags all seem appropriate for this image.

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Many people believe that Ayn Rand’s character of Howard Roark is based on the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. His main idea was that you work with the setting and design a building to fit into the environment rather than force it to fit. The Fallingwater house literally has water flowing through it!

Elements:

Space: While the building is the focus there is still some empty space where the sky shines through and the river is displayed.

Lines: The “natural” lines of the building, the beautiful perfectly straight lines, are in contrast with the wavy, unruly branches, the smooth curves of the rocks and the flowing water.

Shape: I love the perfect rectangles of the building and this image captures them beautifully.

Color: The artist could have taken this image in the summer when there were more colors (leaves on trees etc.) but part of my attraction to this image is color from the man made building and how light it is (maybe even drab) in comparison to nature.

Principles:

Focal Point: The focal point is the building and everything else in the image brings the attention back to it.

Contrast: To me the contrast is between the dark water, the light colored house and the vibrant blue sky. This makes the image come to life and emphasize the beauty of this building.

Balance: This image is well balanced since each component takes up about a third of the space. I guess we could also call this one symmetrical since if I cut it in half each side would be about the same. I don’t think this image would look as good asymmetrically.

Movement: The way the waterfall was captured makes it seem as if the water is still flowing right in the image rather than being frozen in time.

Unity: Since this was FLW mission, everything in this image is in perfect harmony. The river flows through the house, the trees gently surround the building and just the entire image comes together perfectly.

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I have never really cared about art and so I have never really analyzed images to see if they follow rules and such. I feel like I have a pretty good eyes for images most people would consider beautiful and this was a pretty interesting experience for me since now I guess I know why these images are considered appealing.