The most terrible serpents, demons, are an amalgamation of predator animals with talons, big teeth, thrashing tails and long necks. They are a terrific invention which relies both upon our fears and our ability to quickly recognize the unity of a zig zag or serpentine shape. It’s long and wiggly but, connected and complete. This serpentine shape reverberates through mythology in rivers and snakes. Artists have relied on the shape as a device to create deep space or, to simply connect disparate parts of the picture when seen as a flat rectangle. In the diagrams of example 1 (below) observe that panel 1 has a simple letter “s” which does not suggest a 3dimensional reading as panel two does. But, by shrinking the top of the “s” and expanding the bottom we feel more space. Strangely, if I invert the “s” and place the smaller curve on the bottom and the larger curve on the top I no longer feel the suggestion of space(see panel 3). If I layer continuous loops of “S” shapes (see panel 4) I again feel a volume being created. If I turn the “S” sideways as in panel 5, I notice only a wavy line pattern and lose much of the identity of the serpentine but, I get a new letter, new paradigmatic shapes( N,W, M).
example 1. 
example 2. 
Example 2 shows a photo using the principle embodied in panel 4 above. My camera was set for a prolonged exposure while moved my hand in a series of “s” patterns. The effect creates a cyclone of light, or soft cylinder. In the following three paintings I use the serpentine shape to suggest deep space as in panel 2 above.
example 3. 
example 4. 
example 5. 
In all of these examples I supplemented the shrinking “S” with other spatial prompts such as, the receding diagonal recessionals in example 5 or, the value shift from dark to light as in examples 3 and 4.
In the next example 6, I merely added a small, fat, light-blue serpentine shape to the bottom of the picture to generate a feeling of more space.
example 6. 
Although they were on opposite sides of the world and unaware of each other in 1832, Hokusai and Corot both used the zig zag shape to compress space to suggest vertical waterfalls. They also both flattened the picture plane with the zig zag.
example 7. Corot.
example 8. Hokusai. 
In example 9, Kerry Brock and I collaborated to create a flattened plane with a vertical reading ( like Corot and Hokusai). The Serpentine shape reads as a vertical form because, the top half of the “S” is larger(fatter and brighter) than the bottom as seen in panel 3 of example 1. This image has the feeling of paint on a wall like graffiti, and not a feeling of deep space as in examples 3,4,and 5.
example 9. 
Kay H.
Very beautiful. Is the X a form of the serpentine, somehow?
Dan Nelson
Nicely done, David. In a similar vein, I recently tweaked Edgar Payne, “The Composition of Outdoor Painting” in which he delineates 13 essential “Design Stems” (You can find these with a Google search), and noticed that ALL of them can be re-interpreted as various letters in our alphabet: T, E, X, N, A, etc. Once I had my 13 letters worked out, I simply had to force them into a sentence that I could remember. Here is that sentence: “NFL TEAMS (are) TOO XL” The “S” in “TEAMS” is your serpentine shape, of course. I have actually found it helpful to keep these in mind when composing a painting “in the field”.
I enjoy your blogs!
Gail Ingis
Great speak David. Clearly, the serpentine shape, is desirable in all the arts. The serpentine shape is organic, and when changing in size from front to back of a drawing, leads the eye into the deep space similar to the vortex. This form is useful in the garden and garden path. At this time in history, the new materials, such as titanium, permit the use of the serpentine form in architecture. In particular, Frank Gehry’s ribbon like structure, Hotel Marques de Riscal in Alava, Spain. I do not have a website, neither was I able to paste the image of the Hotel. But Frank Gehry’s work is all over the internet.
Gail Ingis
A website for Frank Gehry is http://www.foga.com.
Fredric Neuwirth
The wood cuts say it all. The serpentine, the motion, the space.