Creating a series of digital photos to represent the 'Elements of Art' and 'Principles of Design' was a challenge, but also a lot of fun. It is one thing to read these rules in a book and digest what these elements and principles are, but to actually go 'out in the field' and capture images of each one really made me think; I truly enjoy reading about art (I have a BFA in Art History) but I find as a 'visual' person, I often have a better understanding of concepts if I can paint, draw or photograph them.
When it came to setting up my photos, I naturally found that some concepts and how to capture them photographically came easy. For example, when I think of 'line', one of the visual elements of art, I immediately thought of the vine charcoal sketches I draw before adding my soft pastels. I use a paper that has a lot of texture or 'tooth' to the surface, and my lines are thin in some passages of my sketch and thicker in others. I live in an older home in the city of Tonawanda, and there are lots of interesting 'textures' inside and outside of my residence; I captured the garage door handle in a photograph because I liked the way the metal handle, which has a relatively smooth texture, contrasted with the cracked wood, which you can tell could easily give you a nasty splinter. For 'color' I chose to photograph a recent painting of a Rose of Sharon that I created. I intentionally played with the vibrancy of the cool blues/purples of the flowers against some of the warmer greens of the foliage to make the painting pop. The lighter hue of the flowers against the deeper greens of the background also helped to create what I like to think of as 'color excitement.' I once taught an Adult Education watercolor class, and I had each of my students create a value scale with the Winsor & Newton color Payne's Gray. When they had completed their value scales (which were about the size of a bookmark) I had them use a hole punch in each value, thereby creating a little window that they could use to check their paintings in progress. This helped them create more diversity not just in color, but in the color values they used; it was a helpful tool. For my 'value' photograph I took a black and white photo of my garage in the late afternoon when different shadows were playing on the surface.
The above-mentioned photos are all from the elements of art, and as a Fine Artist myself, I found that I could rather quickly think of ways to represent them. The principles of design caused me to really stop and think, and since I am currently taking a class in jewelry making, these principles are perfect for reinforcing what Professor Saracino is teaching us. I do have a few favorites in my design photos, although overall I like my elements of art representations a little better. My daughter has a beautiful sailor dress, and I saw it lying on the bottom of the stairs, ready to be brought to her closet, and the stripes on the hem just naturally created a beautiful 'rhythm'. And for 'contrast' I couldn't resist showing my rough chainsaw-carved bear on top of the smooth reeds of the woven basket. 'Motion' was the most difficult to capture, I photographed my had about 20 times before I settled on a photo, and then exaggerated the blur of motion a little bit in my Adobe Photoshop program.
I cropped each photo into a perfect square so that as a whole there would be a cohesiveness to my album. Interestingly enough, I have come to the conclusion that many images could fall into several different categories. My 'contrast' picture of smooth and rough could also have been used for 'texture'. And the blue and white tablecloth I used to represent 'proportion' (due to the pattern) could also have stood in for 'balance' or 'repetition.' This is one of the infinite reasons that ART is so exciting - the combinations of elements and principles are infinite, and by understanding and using them to their best advantage, artists are able to develop their own unique style.
http://s1347.photobucket.com/user/ADTasevski/slideshow/The%20Elements%20and%20Principles%20of%20Art%20and%20Design
I really enjoyed your pictures and explanations. It was very interesting to see a take on this project that was so different than my own. Your pictures are very clean and neat. One can tell that they were very precisely staged, in order to create a perfect picture. My own pictures in contrast were very different. My were very raw and messy. However, that is because I find beauty in things in their natural state. Overall, I am just very glad to see a take so different to my own. My favorite picture was the one of your garage door. I like how up close one would barely even see it as a door. Also, you are a great artists. Your painting and sketch were amazing.
ReplyDeleteAlso it's funny that you are taking a jewelry making class, I took one a couple semesters ago. It's so much fun!