Five Siamese 4x10 transparent watercolor
Marie In art, line is frequently the first mark on the page; the tool an artist uses to begin a piece of work. The use of line is a topic infinitely important, complex, and beyond my ability to explain in one paragraph. To sum it up crudely, line creates motion, action, emphasis (think of eye liner) and emotion (think of a row of soldiers vs. a landscape with rolling hills) and leads the viewer’s eyes through the painting. Lines don’t actually have to be lines to say line: In my painting, Five Siamese, I used value contrast—where dark and light areas meet—to create whimsical “lines” that direct the viewer’s eyes through and around the painting (see my clumsily drawn blue lines). The cats are still, yet full of movement. The value difference between the bottom edge of the cats and the bedding below creates a line (red) that unifies the cats as one object. The cats are separate, yet one.
Worlds Apart 15x11 soft pastel
Julie The main focus of the painting Worlds Apart is old versus new, and line is what helps distinguish the two. The hard architectural lines of urban life are juxtaposed against the organic soft lines of the figures that stepped in from a simplified time period. At the same time, the lines of the sidewalk, railing and skyscrapers connect the figures to their settings.
