Humanities Study Guide

Humanities Study Guide

is that the paint dries quickly, which leaves no room for error. Oil paints are versatile, allowing the painter to choose the thickness, and they are slow to dry, which leaves room for corrections. Watercolor is slightly translucent in color, but it lends to broad brushstrokes that are typically less detailed than other paints. Acrylic paint takes on a plastic-like resin that dries quickly and is easy to apply. This paint has become extremely popular with modern artists for a wide range of intensity in color and versatility. Artists in Asian countries have been using ink as their medium of choice for centuries. Lastly, when the artist blends a plethora of elements like acrylic, sand, and gold leaf, this is known as mixed media . Lines and Colors Line is a continuous marking made by making a point on a surface. Horizontal and vertical lines can help separate elements neatly in a picture, providing a pleasing aesthetic. Diagonal lines, on the other hand, have a way of making the viewer feel tension or movement. If the painter desires to convey softness and flow, they will typically use curving lines. Shapes present in paintings can be linear, irregular, regular, or just meant to evoke emotions. Shapes create perspective or the illusion of depth. Piet Mondrian's Broadway Boogie Woogie is an example of linear artwork. Painters and art critics often sight the imaginary line that determines the basic visual direction of the painting called the axis line. Color and Light Colors are all around us; they can be used to evoke emotions, create depth, and emphasize features. In art, hue, saturation, and value are the three elements that compose color. Hue is the name of the color itself, like red or blue. Saturation is the pureness or vividness of the color, such as the redness of red. Value is the shading and definition in a painting, usually understood by lights and darks. Paintings themselves have so many components to them, but something that artists may also include in a work of art is texture. Texture is how the painting itself feels. Paintbrushes may leave strokes where the paint is thicker, or an artist may use a pallet knife to add dots and globs of paint. Patterns are often present in all types of art; we define patterns as the repetition of shapes, lines, or images. Compositions Another element of art that we need to discuss is composition. Composition refers to the organization and relationship of elements to one another. There are six principles for evaluating a painting's composition. The first is balance , or the equilibriumof opposing visual forces in a painting. For example, Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper uses balance to create symmetry. He uses the shape of the individuals at the table to balance one another off both the vertical axis and the central figure, Jesus Christ. Gradation is the second of the six elements and it refers to the changes in details and regions, like the gradual variations of shapes, shadowing, and colors to create space, distance, or depth. Despite paintings being pictures on flat surfaces, they can still imply movement of their subjects. Movement and rhythm are ways that paintings control the viewer's vision. A great

© 2020

Achieve

Page 6 of 62