Category: Methods and Technique

The second criteria enshrined the previously discussed rubric is “Balance”. Straightforward at a glance, this intuitively simple concept reveals a hidden world of madness for those possessing enough courage to look past the surface.

Allow me to present the following argument taken from the first chapter of Rudolf Arnheim’s 1954 book “Art and Visual Perception”.
I swear I did not make this up.

First of all, Vision is a physiological process that occurs within the brain. Vision is also a psychological experience that interprets and makes sense of this physiological process.

When you observe someone throwing a ball through the air, the physiological process of vision occurs in your brain and that process is psychologically interpreted in some way that gives you an understanding that a ball is moving.

In other words, you see the ball moving because your brain tells you that the ball is moving.

Now look at this optical illusion that tricks your mind into seeing movement where no movement is actually happening.

This is the strange part.

As far as your brain is concerned, there is no observable difference between the real movement of the ball and the perceived movement in the illusion. Even though one is objectively measurable and the other doesn’t actually exist, the two events are indistinguishable as psychological events.

Therefore, according to Arnheim, we can consider that a “perceptual force” exists that causes your brain to perceive movement in the illusion, just as a real physical force exists that causes your brain to perceive movement of the ball. Just as we study the forces that act on the world, we can study the forces that act on the canvas. We can determine how they work upon our perceptual reality. We can become, in a sense, masters of our internal universe.

This is the heart of the madness – Perceptual forces bestow upon us the power to make mountains light as a breeze, to wrestle the moon, and harness the sky. The power to create anything we desire if we are bold enough to try.

Use it wisely.

Arnheim, R. (2004). Art and Visual Perception. Spain: University of California Press.

Today’s art: Brush study number three (see it being painted here)

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Element	Criteria	Score (out of 5)
Unity	Does the work look good?	3
Balance	Was it used wisely?	4
Movement	The work has a sense of movement (ie. figure positioning, flowing water, leading lines)	3
Rhythm	Work has a rhythm or underlying beat that leads the viewers eye to view the artwork at a certain place	2
Focus	The viewer’s eye is drawin to a specific focal point of  the work	4
Contrast	The work is enhanced by the presence or absence of contrast	2
Pattern	The work is enhanced by the presence or absence of regularly repeating lines, shapes, colors, or values	4
Proportion	The work is enhanced by the presence or absence of proportion	2

The first criteria outlined in our rubric is “Unity”, which seems as good a place as any to start my armchair philosophizing. What is this thing artists call unity? I’m so glad you asked.

Intuitively, the concept of unity in art refers to the representation of compositional elements precisely arranged within a work to achieve a composite whole whereby the sum of said compositional elements adhere to some generally recognized standard of balance, rhythm, and harmony.^[1]

More simply put, good art looks good.

This very simple concept has a long and glorious history that reaches back thousands of years. Rather than chronicle the entire history of humans thinking about art, I’ll simply share interesting term I learned called organic unity. As outlined by Catherine Lord in her 1964 paper “Organic Unity Reconsidered”, this term puts forward the following three premises: “1) Subtraction or addition would diminish the value of the work of art as a whole. 2) Subtraction or addition changes the character of all the contained parts of the work of art, and 3) Every part of the work of art is not equally important when importance means prominence or impact.”^[2]

She goes on to argue that the third premise supersedes the first two, and then throws out the whole sordid affair because How Dare You shackle art to one single model of “unity” in the first place!^{[also 2]}

Which is great, because now we’re right back where we started. Isn’t philosophy fun?

De gustibus non est disputandum.

Citations:
[1] Frank, Marie. “Denman Waldo Ross and the Theory of Pure Design.” American Art, vol. 22, no. 3, 2008, pp. 72–89. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.1086/595808. Accessed 16 Dec. 2020.
[2] Lord, Catherine. “Organic Unity Reconsidered.” The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism, vol. 22, no. 3, 1964, pp. 263–268. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/427230. Accessed 16 Dec. 2020.

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Element	Criteria	Score (out of 5)
Unity	Does it look good?	2
Balance	The work has a symmetrical arrangement that adds a sense of calm, or an asymmetrical arrangement that creates a more dynamic feeling	3
Movement	The work has a sense of movement (ie. figure positioning, flowing water, leading lines)	2
Rhythm	Work has a rhythm or underlying beat that leads the viewers eye to view the artwork at a certain place	3
Focus	The viewer’s eye is drawin to a specific focal point of  the work	0
Contrast	The work is enhanced by the presence or absence of contrast	4
Pattern	The work is enhanced by the presence or absence of regularly repeating lines, shapes, colors, or values	4
Proportion	The work is enhanced by the presence or absence of proportion	0

Just because you screwed up doesn’t mean its ruined. I had intended to make a black and white landscape with a dramatic splash of red, but after failing to make a proper cloud for a half hour I decided not to do a landscape after all. Remember to find the opportunity in your failures.

Also remember to learn from your mistakes. For me this time, I learned that I need to study up on my wet on wet technique, as this was the reason my clouds didn’t come together properly.

Keep on learning!

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