Drawing Attention to the Center of Interest Area of Your Painting Edition 3 Vol. I May 21, 2000
There are several ways we can cause viewers to look at the particular area of our painting we’d like them to see. This is, after all, the way we communicate with another person through our paintings. It might be well if we discuss here the proper location of that center of interest. If we divide our painting surface into thirds vertically and into thirds horizontally we will have created four points of intersection. IT is at one of those intersections our center of interest should be located. sometimes we end up with two areas of interest. We usually call those primary and secondary. It is important that these two not be placed in the two right or two left intersections nor in the two top or two bottom intersections. Rather, they should be placed diagonally opposed.
We will discuss three methods for drawing attention to your center of interest. The first is to paint more detail, more sharp edges on things in that area. In the rest of the painting we paint a little looser, softer edges in other words. If you are a tight painter by nature and you end up with sharp edges in an area where you later decide they don’t belong. Be certain the area is completely dry. With a fairly large, flat brush and clear water, drag across the area two or three times. Watch carefully and you’ll see those hard edges begin to disappear. I call that blending. If you use pigment when you do it that’s glazing.
Method number two is to locate your brighter, more vivid colors in your center of interest area. Be sure to leave some light, transparent areas. In the rest of the painting add some grayed blue to your colors to make them recede.
The third method is to locate your lightest and darkest values next to each other in your center of interest area. The effect is dramatic! More often than not those values will be light and shadow. This is one of my favorite centers of interest. Many paintings are lost in the first fifteen minutes. They are lost because the artist doesn’t keep the whites thus the painting has no “snap”. Study your subject or reference photo carefully. If an area is white, leave it white. You can always glaze selected areas as a final step.If you have questions email us at rlwatercolor71@aol.com.
Enjoy painting!
Robert and Sharon
Robert Long Watercolors
12273 Emerald Coast Parkway, Unit 120 • Destin, FL 32550
Phone (850) 837-3220 • Fax (850) 837-3770
E-mail us: rlwatercolor71@aol.com
http://www.robertlongwatercolors.com