Close your eyes for a moment, then open them and glance at the design below. To which of the disks do your eyes go first?
Chances are your eyes were drawn to the smallest disk on the upper right. That's the power of strong color intensity. Even though the shape below the small disc is much larger, its size still doesn't have the power to pull attention to it as does the smaller, more intense disk.
Let's look at another one. Use the same technique of closing your eyes for a moment, then glance at the design to see which disks your eye goes to first.
Notice what your eyes want to do, where they want to go. Try to force them to go to the olive green disk on the lower right. I betcha they'll resist. Now try to force them to stare at the blue disk in the upper left corner. They are still resisting, right? Most likely where they really want to go is either the bright blue in the center, the bright red above and to the right of it, or the crescent shaped bright green on the lower left, or perhaps back and forth among those three intense shapes.
Now one more. Use the same procedure with this last design. Where do your eyes want to go?
Everywhere, right? Confusing, right?
Tip: One way you can guide a viewer through your painting is by making small areas of color more intense than surrounding spaces. But, if you have too many intense colors, your painting will feel chaotic. Not enough and it will be boring.
Happy painting,
Dianne
P. S. Join us on the Facebook forum this week. I'll put a challenge up on Monday and the answer to it Tuesday evening.
P.P.S. I
My new book, Finding Freedom to Create, is taking a life of its own. If you've not yet got your copy, you can find it on Amazon or Barnes & Noble in softcover, hardcover and ebook formats.
