Drawing and Composing Tips Archive

In many locations we have the neutrals of winter where the landscapes hold very little color, but we can train ourselves to see subtle hues in every neutral we see.   Look at this bare tree ...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2014/02/february-15-composing-tip-finding.html

The word shadow has been given an ominous meaning in many cultures.  Kids can be frightened by imaginary beasties lurking in the shadows and dogs will sometimes bark at theirs.  For the arti...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2014/02/february-8-2014-composing-tip-in-shadows.html

Eye guides are strategically placed spots of interest that create visual paths. There are many and they can be used in an array of creative ways.  Often they act as elements of intrigue.   ...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2014/02/february-1-composing-tip-eye-guides.html

Painting a subject verbatim might not guarantee the best balance.  Even though an artist is technically masterful, if the images are not dynamically balanced, the painting will be weak.  On th...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2014/01/january-25-composing-tip-dynamic-balance.html

During the act of composing, we're constantly using a combination of visual pulls (levers) and visual stops in order to keep the viewer's eye moving within the painting to keep it in balance or ...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2014/01/january-18-2014-composing-tip-stop-and.html

Visual levers operate by a law of attraction that acts like gravity.  They are our tools for achieving balance or equipoise in our art work. Try this:   On a sheet of blank paper, draw two...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2014/01/january-11-2014-composing-tip-isolation.html

Every image, every mark we make has a visual pull.  Try this.  On a blank sheet of white printer paper about four inches from a corner, make a black dot about the size of a pea.   Look at the...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2014/01/january-4-composing-tip-visual-livers.html

The most confusing part of an emerging artist's learning process is the collection of rules we are told we must follow to prevent our paintings from falling into trouble.  Utmost among these is...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2014/01/december-28-2013-problem-of-centering.html

Color has three components:  hue, value and intensity.  We have explored how to sight-read hue and value.  Now, we're ready to round this out and sight-read the full range of every color we s...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2013/12/december-21-2013-sight-reading-color.html

An important part of sight-reading for the musician is recognizing the rise and fall of notes:  the higher the notes appear on the score, the higher pitched their tones are.  To sight-read col...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2013/12/an-important-part-of-sight-reading-for.html

Sight-reading is the musician's skill for reading and playing music they may not have seen before.  One way to learn sight-reading is to sing the notes of randomly selected phrases.  We can le...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2013/12/november-7-2013.html

Contrary to popular beliefs, drawing can be the most freeing of any art activity we do. When we were children, we delighted in exploring lines on paper, but critical attitudes from the outside w...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2013/12/drawing-tip-of-week-drawing-freely-part.html

There's an unquestioned notion that drawing is difficult, that it is laborious and requires a lot of effort.  Consequently, only a small number of artists experience the joy and playfulness we ...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2013/11/november-23-2013-drawing-freely.html

Even though we know that light determines the appearance of everything we see, we can get so focused on what a subject is that we forget to notice what light is making it do.  But our perceptio...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2013/11/november-16-2013.html

In painting, transposing is similar to shifting a piece of music from a major key into a minor one. We hear choral groups do this all the time, beginning a song in a bright, burst of harmoniou...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2013/11/november-9-2013-transposing.html

COMPOSING TIP FOR THE WEEK:  TRANSLATING FALL COLORS   When we are painting, if we’re not inventing from whole cloth, we are translating, transposing or doing a bit of both.  When we are ...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2013/11/november-2013-composing-tip-for-week.html

WHAT FOLLOWS BELOW THIS PAGE ARE POSTS FROM DIANNE'S FIRST PAINTING BLOG.

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2010/07/transition.html

This morning I wrote a little poem about the mother moth from Wednesday's painting. Here it is, raw and unedited: Lured towards light she fliters and soars, then lands upon the bark that shie...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2010/05/poem.html

Brian (who is helping me with some home renovations) and I discovered a huge moth attached to a front porch screen, apparently just after laying her eggs.  I grabbed the camera and got dozens of...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2010/05/motherhood.html

"This Spring" Oil on Canvas     8" x 10" All spring, the light shows in our woods have been exceptional and numerous.  To capture one of these, I sat up my portable easel at the kitchen...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2010/05/this-spring.html

You've seen this before, but in an earlier version: "River Mist"     (Revised) Watercolor on paper    13" x 18" (Click on image for a larger, clearer veersion.) On these spring mo...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2010/04/river-mist-re-visited.html

"River Mist" Watercolor on paper    13" x 17.5" We're having Howard's celebration of life on Sunday afternoon, so this week is a pensive one for me.  Much of my thought has been focuse...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2010/04/river-mist.html

"Fallen Tree"     Oil on Board     5" x 7" Again my subject comes from our Tallulah River.  But this time it was that fallen tree that motivated the painting.  What caught my eye w...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2010/04/fallen-tree.html

  "Memories" Watercolor on Paper    13" x 9.5" No price yet Days we spent on the Tallulah River were among our favorites.  Most times our trips there were spontaneous, a spur of the mo...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2010/04/memories.html

Yesterday morning it occurred to me to pay attention to a bit of my own teaching:.  Without exception, whenever a student would ask how to get past an artistic block, I'd say "draw, draw anythin...

http://diannemize.blogspot.com/2010/03/whats-in-teaching.html