Texture and Design, Weak vs Strong

Cezanne looked for planes of reflectance. His challenge was to unite biological vision with art history. Art history gave him a library of subjects and designs, models for  composing pictures. The process of vision provoked more questions and proved to be more difficult to penetrate and apply in painting. The history of design reaches far  past Cezanne’s hero Poussin into our universal history of  letters and pictographs. That history extends into the nature of perception.

Use of compositional models like the “S” or serpentine form and the “V”  form and the height of the horizon can be traced through art history. These models can also be universally applied to any visual field waiting for pictorial organization. In example 1 Cezanne has used the Serpentine design which culminates in a soft inverted “V”, Mt St Victoire. He applies complementary colors and contrasting values within simplified shapes. He has one horizontal area of blue laying on the left  below the Mountain and above the serpentine road. His composition reflects  reconstituted and distilled Poussin designs. In this blogpost I will demonstrate how to use these principles to design better photographs and better paintings.

example 1. Cezanne’s landscape.

In the following examples I present photos which offer weaker or stronger design. I will use Cezanne’s landscape as our model. In example 2, I have a photo of marshlands from Rye, New York. This photo has Cezanne’s high horizon and the flat area of blue on the left. It has a incline rising from lower left  to the right.  As a result of the design the image appears to slide out of its frame. It tilts without interruption. It wants an effective serpentine design. This image is a poor candidate for painting without redesign. Example 3 has its reeds laying in an ascending “V” shape which gives the picture too much vertical thrust. The triangular design keeps us within the frame but, it too misses an effective serpentine design. Example 4 presents a the composition again but, with a clear serpentine design wending its way toward the horizon. The organization of the reeds presents a tactile texturing opportunity to enliven the serpentine design. This is the preferred design for a painting.  Example 5 demonstrates the serpentine form.

example 2. tilting and unbalanced marshlands.

example 3. too much vertical movement in the marshlands.

example 4. the preferred marshlands with serpentine design.

example 5. serpentine shape illustrated.

If I use the  image without the pronounced texture of the reeds the image loses much of its motion as well as its tactile appeal (see example 6).

example 6. image with insufficient reinforcing texture.

Next, Examples 7 and 8 each demonstrate the use of same design template as in the photos above. Here, in place of the reeds the serpentine shape is water( light) meandering back to the same high horizon. In example 7 the distant wedge shape on the horizon ( my Mt St Victoire) declines toward the end of the serpentine shape.  In example 8 the wedge shape declines in the opposite direction.

example 7. Serpentine of water with horizon wedge declining to the left.

example 8 . Serpentine of water with wedge declining to the right.

The next examples ( examples 9, 10 and 11) show my step-by-step process of building the painting with reedy textures, variegated color and complementary color contrasts which further animate the feeling of moving contours. The Serpentine pattern has been exaggerated in the painting as have the colors.  This design refers back the Cezanne and Poussin.

example 9. step one, finding the composition and the flow of the textures.

example 10. step two, unitary fragmenting and coloring the flow of the textures.

example 11. step three, the painting in its present form.