Inspiration In A Basket

Baskets and Blankets share a weft and warp, interweaving patterns meeting perpendicularly. Normally, we gather our attention at  intersections and when they are redundant we move our attention to the continuities of the pattern and cease to pay attention to the individual intersections. Paintings can be constructed with a similar principle.

Our mind prioritizes different directional patterns. We attribute thematic unity to the direction of the emphasized current in the pattern. Neuroscience has discovered  we prioritize verticals over horizontals but, the preference is subtle. When a basket-weave design is used we pay more attention to a design with an emphasis on a particular direction rather than each direction receiving the same emphasis whether in color, value, texture, or size. In the following examples notice how artists use directional patterns to suggest a current of motion but, balance that direction with a less emphatic contrary motion.

Example one begins with a  watercolor by Albrecht Durer around 1500.  Durer probably used an optical projection device like a concave lens or camera obscura or glass window grid to achieve his result. Observe the surfeit of verticals behaving like a rhythmic melody and then the lower horizontal area with a softer focus  as if it were a counterpoint base line.

example 1. Durer.

I have two impressionist examples, Claude Monet and John Singer Sargent. In example 2, Monet painted a  loose current of horizontal leaf shapes acting like a translucent curtain intervening before the distant landscape. This horizontal current is supported by  counterbalancing slender, dark tree trunks. In Examples 3 and 4 (detail), Sargent creates a unitary field of verticals (grasses) which slowly fade out of focus. They  are counterbalanced by the horizontal band of figures, canoe and canvas. Notice how the figures (artist Paul Helleu and wife) and the boat aggregate into a triangular shape.

example 2. Monet.

example 3.Sargent, full image.

example 4. Sargent, detail.

If I wish to emphasize the horizontal action I may organize it into a singular shape like a serpentine or zigzag which you see in example 5. Notice that the horizontal zig zag is reinforced with a subset of horizontal leaf shapes and, this entire pattern sits on a complementary dark blue field which is interrupted by short verticals.  We visually unite these verticals across the vertical span of the picture just as we unite the interweaving laces of a basket. The effect illustrates the Gestalt continuity principle.

example 5. ZigZag Autumn, an oil on brushed silver anodized aluminum.

I can take this same design and reverse the location and role of  the ” Blue” as you see in example 5a. Here the central blue shape becomes the passive area  and the periphery is more active.

example 5a. Blue Marsh, oil on PVC.

Photographing nature I find patterns which emphasize the vertical or the horizontal. Example 6 illustrates a feeling of dominant verticals while example 7 illustrates an image dominated by horizontals.

example 6, Verticals over Horizontals.

example 7.Horizontals over Verticals.

Or, an image can transition with a territory with dominant horizontals into a territory with dominant verticals as you see in example 8.  The leaves in lower half are more horizontal and transition into more vertical alignments.

example 8, horizontals into verticals.

In my final examples I begin with a lower section of horizontals then allow the majority of the picture  to be filled with vertical rhythms. I simultaneously change the palette as I go from the lower area which is redder to the upper area which depends on  simultaneous color contrast effects and equiluminance effects relying on the violet vs. yellow dynamic for both brightness and shimmer. Example 9 represents step one, my initial lay-in and, example 10 is the painting in its present form, an oil on brushed silver anodized aluminum.

example 9, step one, Corner of Autumn.

example 10.step two, Corner of Autumn.

I invite you come to my lecture on Art and Architecture this Sunday November 8, 2015 at 4:30 PM at the Silvermine Art Center in New Canaan, Ct.  For information see my website at daviddunlop.com or visit silvermineart.org.

I also invite you to Join me for  Jerry Artarama’s Art of The Carolinas in Raleigh Durham, NC. the following weekend. I have three days of exciting workshops. Either call 800 827-8478 ext156 or visit their website at www.artofcarolinas.com . My three workshops are: 1.Water: Reflections & Translucence; 2.Realistic Abstractions; 3. Brighter and Brilliant Nature.