As a photographer, we learn right away that repeating patterns make for interesting images. Every workshop has you looking for and making photos where the pattern repeats. We love seeing…
An artist is always wondering how to push the envelope and create something that engages the audience. While there are many ways of making captivating images, there is one in…
Abstract Painters and paintings are among the many topics that have captured my interests lately. Abstractionists were part of a movement that gave the middle finger to the established way…
I had a silly thought that symmetry was simple. After all, the basic element is a simple shape, so it should stand to reason that a symmetry operation would be…
In 2014, Richard and I visited the palace of Alhambra in Granada, Spain. There, I was captivated by the intricate geometric designs and symmetrical patterns created by the Moors. Some…
I am thinking again about the Triangle. Along with the Circle and the Square, the Triangle is one of the basic shapes which are the building blocks of our known…
Digital artists heavily use image layering to build a finished work. It is a natural way of bringing ideas together and presenting them with poetic intentions. I've approached this subject…
In the 1950s a movement called Abstract Expressionism gained ground in the world of art. Painters like Willem De Kooning, Jackson Pollock, and Robert Motherwell were at the head of…
You already know what a circle is, and you have been drawing it since you learned how to hold a crayon. The Circle is one of the foundational designs from which…
We are aware of how our bodies move and are used to people and things moving around us all the time. This means that we have an idea of movement.…
The first rule of art is to have fun. Understanding composition, design, harmony, perspective is important.Also, you need to learn the rules to break them. That is true. But if…
In visual art, 'Horror Vacui' refers to filling an entire space with detail. It also means 'fear of empty space'.The Italian critic Mario Praz used this term to describe the…
Here is a tool to make your abstracts more meaningful.Particularly in abstracts, the distribution of elements in the frame facilitates the viewer’s eye across the image. The eye is drawn…
We associate shapes, colors, sizes, placement of objects in images with our life experiences. Red is associated with blood and fire. Sharp edges are seen as threatening, like the edge…
The Golden Ratio is a design ratio that structures the nature of form. It is a mathematical sequence that frequently appears in nature and is found in art and design.…
I am fond of using symbols in my art. I’ve use birds a lot. In fact, people who know my work assume the birds they see in my photographs are…
Hold on to your hats! I am about to make a case for stealing. There is actually an art term for it. It is appropriately called - Appropriation. In fact,…
Juxtaposition is when one element is placed next to another in such a way that a new relationship is created. In visual art, Juxtaposition can be used to express philosophical,…
In the image, there is a rectangular box with a red triangle inside it. If this artwork was entitled ‘Campground’ the triangle would become a tent. If it was called…
I have often heard a photographer dismiss her image because the finished work was not the result she was going for. It happened by accident. The fact is, Chance has…
Selfies have been happening since the fifteenth century when Painters such as Masaccio and Andrea Mantegna added their own images to the crowds in religious paintings. In later years, Rembrandt…
An allegory is an abstract idea communicated with concrete images. It is the parable told through images or relatable characters. Allegories are a comment on the human story and are…
When using vision, the eye sees one thing at a time. The object of focus is ‘figure’. The rest of the perceptual field that falls into the background, is ‘ground’.…
“Wabi-sabi is about the minor and the hidden, the tentative and the ephemeral: things so subtle and evanescent they are invisible to vulgar eyes.” Leonard Koren wrote those words…
