Month: July 2013
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Who Was the Art Critic Who Wrote the First Review of Van Gogh’s Paintings?
The very first art critic to review Van Gogh’s paintings was Albert Aurier (1865-1892), and it happened during Van Gogh’s Lifetime. Aurier was a painter himself, as well as an art critic. Aurier was passionate about Symbolism, then an emerging art movement. His review, “Les Isolés: Vincent van Gogh”, was published in January 1890, on […]
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Using a Clock to Judge the Angles of Vanishing Lines
There are various methods for judging the angles of vanishing lines. The one that works best for me is to visualize it as the hour hand on a clock. I do it like this: The minute hand serves as either the horizon line (the position it’s at 9 or 3 o’clock) or a vertical (12 […]
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Vanishing Lines in Perspective
Vanishing lines are imaginary lines used to create accurate perspective in a painting. They are drawn on the top and bottom horizontal edges of an object, along the object and then extended all the way to the horizon line. For instance on a building, there would be a vanishing line along the top of the roof […]
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The Horizon Line in Perspective
Horizon line is a confusing perspective term because when you hear it, you tend to immediately think of “the horizon” we see in nature. That is, the horizon as in the line where the land or sea meets the sky in the distance. In a painting, the horizon line might be this if you’re painting a landscape, […]
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What is Perspective in Art?
By Marion Boddy-Evans Perspective is an art technique for creating an illusion of three-dimensions (depth and space) on a two-dimensional (flat) surface. Perspective is what makes a painting seem to have form, distance, and look “real”. The same rules of perspective apply to all subjects, whether it’s a landscape, seascape, still life, interior scene, portrait, or figure painting. […]
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Viewpoint in Perspective
By Marion Boddy-Evans Viewpoint is the spot (point) from which you, the artist, is looking at (viewing) the scene. Linear perspective is worked out according to this viewpoint. There’s no right or wrong choice of viewpoint, it’s simply the first decision you make when beginning to plan your composition and figure out the perspective. Normal viewpoint is […]
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Art Composition Rules
By Marion Boddy-Evans Art composition rules provide a starting point for deciding on a composition for a painting, for deciding where to put things. The Rule of Thirds is the easiest art composition rule to follow in a painting. It’s a basic rule popular among photographers, but equally applicable to the composition of paintings. Applying the rule of […]
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Art Jokes: You Must Be An Artist If…
What are the signs that you’re an artist? This collection of definitions of what makes an artist started with a comment on the Painting Forum from Hamlet which got the rest of us going…! I’m not telling which of these art jokes originated with me, nor how many definitions apply to me, except to say I’ve never […]
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Elements of Composition: Rhythm
Don’t think that rhythm is something that belongs to music only, or perhaps poetry. It’s also one of the Elements of Composition, helping to lead the viewer’s eye across a painting. The example I’ve shown here is of a extreme landscape format, considerably wider than it is tall. To get the viewer’s eye from one edge to the […]
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The Fried Egg School of Painting Composition
By Marion Boddy-Evans Question: The Fried Egg School of Painting Composition “Is it a rule that the focal point of a painting should not be in the middle of the canvas? What if you have, let us say, a face with a crown on the head, nothing else other than the background, would that be wrong?” — Vivien S […]
