Some of the best advice I've gotten over the years came from my mother, who was a brilliant business woman as well as a talented artist. I learned all kinds of useful life skills from her, like repairing sheet rock walls and buying and selling real estate and cars. But whenever we got together to just visit, we always talked about the latest thing we had seen or learned about art.

For a while, Mom had subscriptions to several art magazines. I didn't have the funds for magazines at that time, so I couldn't wait to get my hands on them when I got to her house! I would pour over her art magazines and books as we talked about their contents.

During one of our visits, we were talking about values in art, or the various degrees of lightness and darkness in the picture plane. (Not your typical mother and daughter conversation, I know, but I got lucky!) Then Mom brought up her favorite piece of art advice she got from one of her art teachers:

           Make your darks DARK
           and your lights LIGHT.

It was the first time I'd heard about the concept of value contrast, and I haven't heard much about it since then.

At the time, Mom liked to paint realistic subjects in oil on canvas. I was in to drawing, collage, and fiber arts, and had not yet begun painting. So, while these words of wisdom stuck with me, they did not really hit home until I started working with bolder color in soft pastels and paint many years later. 

Contrast in art is simply the difference between things, or where two very different elements are placed next to each other. Sort of like the old opposites attract theory. Contrast is how our eyes tell when one thing ends and another begins, and how we see light, shadows, and atmosphere. Also, our eyes recognize the areas in a painting with the greatest contrast as the most important, and are continually drawn back there.

Contrasting elements in a painting could be a soft line against a hard line, smooth texture next to rough texture, vivid color by grayed color, or using colors next to each other that are opposites on the color wheel. All of these types of contrasts are important tools for an artist, but they all depend on value contrast, the degree of lightness against darkness, to be used successfully.

Value contrast can be used to turn a bland, uninspiring painting into a powerful, visually exciting painting, sometimes with only some minor adjustments. 

It seems like every time I get stuck in a painting and don't know what it is about it that bugs me, it turns out to have something to do with the values and how well I've used value contrast. When I step back and really eyeball a piece of art that I'm not happy with, I usually find that I've made it in almost all one value. Sometimes I forget about the coolest tool I have in my paintbox! Even after all these years of art making, I have to remind myself of this one great truth: 

This is a part of a continuing series of memes and blog posts about the Best Art Advice I've found so far. Please feel free to like, comment, and share this post. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this subject.

Also, you can sign up for my Insider's List to get occasional updates and to see my latest rock music inspired paintings. Come visit! www.beckyroeslerart.com

I've been on a quest to learn everything I can about art for most of my life. Not only do I want to learn to be the best artist I can be, but I have an endless curiosity about all things art related. Since I'm mainly a painter of 2D art, I spend a lot of time thinking about picture composition. Lately, the importance of edges and transitions in paintings has been on my mind a lot. There's not a whole lot out there about edges and transitions, so here's my take on some of the greatest artist's tools:

Edges and transitions can make or break a great painting.

The rhythm and flow of edges and transitions between shapes gives strength, definition, and cohesiveness to a painting. This is achieved by varying the edges and saving the sharpest edges and greatest contrasts for the focal point.
 
I’ve found this works for all styles of painting, from the most traditional realistic to the wildest abstraction. Even minimalist and color-field paintings have edges and transitions, and most paintings have a focal point of some kind.
 
It works because all paintings, no matter the style, need a path for your eyes to follow. Along this path, we want to find a variety of interesting areas where our eyes are encouraged to linger and return to, as well as gentle places for our eyes to rest. This path is what keeps us looking at a painting and is one of the most powerful tools an artist has.
 
The edges make the path and the path leads your eyes around the painting.
 
How an artist treats the edges and transitions between shapes is what defines the eye path. If all the edges and transitions are exactly alike, either all hard lines or all soft and faded, there is no path to follow. Our eyes are either brought to a jarring stop, or left to wander right on out of the painting.
 
So, in order to make paintings with the greatest visual impact that will keep the viewer’s attention longer, include a variety of edges and transitions while saving the sharpest edges and greatest contrasts for the focal point.

This is a part of a continuing series of memes and blog posts about the Best Art Advice I've found so far. Please feel free to like, comment, and share this post. I'd love to hear your thoughts on this subject. Also, you can sign up for my Insider's List to get occasional updates and to see my latest rock music inspired paintings