ART PLAY
"Art, like morality, consists of drawing the line somewhere."
-Gilbert K. Chesterton
Line is one of the elements of design, along with value, color, shape and texture. One way to define LINE is as a mark with greater length than width and having direction. This idea, from the quote above, of drawing the line somewhere in your art is more than a metaphor. It's one of those tools in your art kit for designing your paintings.
I start most of my large abstract paintings on canvas with line. Rather than mapping out a design for the painting I move into it with expressive line, which later turns into painted shapes and other elements.
You may want to try one of these "line" starts for an expressive painting:
1. Close your eyes and draw with a piece of charcoal or pencil onto your painting surface. Then continue with paint, filling in the shapes created by the lines, or even painting across the lines so that they become texture.
2. Load up a big round brush with Sumi or other black or sepia ink and make some big gestural lines on the pages. When dry, add paint.
3. Start with an eyes closed "sensory" drawing with pencil, then with eyes open erase or paint over parts of it.
These starts help to get you moving into the piece with your whole body and connect you with those intuitive processes of the right brain hemisphere.
As a finishing touch, line can be a powerful element to enliven a piece, helping the eye to focus. Here's some ideas for finishing a piece with line:
1. If you have a painting with lovely diffuse color and soft edges that reads as pretty but "blah", add interest by drawing/painting lines on it. This could be a line drawing which repeats shapes in the painting or other more subtle decorative effects.
2. Finish your piece by adding text (a form of line) in a pattern that matches the style of the piece, i.e. fat, round letters, ornate antique script, etc.
3. Outline areas that need more definition.
4. Draw lines on the paper (by hand or with a straight edge or even curved) to serve as a guide for your words and to achieve a journal-like effect.
Pen nibs and ink are good for making lines that go over acrylic. Paint pens and some gel pens will also work well. Try the Uni-Ball Signo white pen for opaque white lines over dark painted sections.
But whatever you do with your art, just remember to draw the line somewhere!
