Her stillness

Beautiful striations juxtaposed against the smooth texture of a nude female form...the light swept motion of the water to the right of the figure and the shape created by the lightest lights against the darkest darks...in combination with the glance to the right, how much activity and form must be on the left to counter that extreme value contrast?

In this photograph by Sally Mann we see the weight required to move the eye over and reconcile the asymmetry to put all in visual balance...the figures legs and torso are off from the center with the dark left side visually forcing the eye away from the lower right corner, to the hands, up the left side, around the head and back again...but what is most seductive, those gentle wisps of value, liquid and out of focus moving all around the stillness of her.

The organic possibility

The kinetic possibility of this image by P. Pott Scarsons...visually the potential of this falling tree limb, the parts and referencing whole trees in the bottom...the figure in the lower right, moving away from the approaching organic shape...but there is something beautiful about the bright sun and the black, sharp edged tree.

Balance between the open white and gray sky against the black topscape at the bottom of the picture plane...the angle of the falling tree, pushing the eye to the right and connecting to that running figure, contrasting visually, the tops of the trees that are straight up and countered by the lightest shape in the sky...moving and balanced asymmetry.

Cloudy with a chance of evil

Those artists that choose to utilize the frame as part of the piece should take a formal lesson from this work by Jeremy Fish...Beyond the conceptual connection between the head with the open mouth showing us a vignette inside, those billowy, cloud shapes in the hair around the mouth tie in nicely with those same cloud forms in the foreground of the painting.

I also really like the visual of an animal, in a very direct way, using garbage as a tool...implying a level of competence and evolution...they may not be the intention, but the piece allows for a significant amount of the reading into it...these stylized, monochromatic, painted images play in harmony with the frame, the contrast comes in the concept, calm, serene and at the same time sinister and dark.

Electrified environment

Disorienting work by Scott Anderson, this piece plays on our natural instinct to upright elements...especially the human form...segmented into different zones, lines and shapes cross and flow through the sections to tie the zones together....

The piece moves quickly due to the strong vertical lines contrasting against the large human figure horizontal and other shapes in space...the feeling is of a futuristic landscape, an environment that has yet to be defined...we as the viewer attempt to conclude an outcome, with minimal clues...there are other figures in the space at a smaller scale, leading the eye back into this world, they are key in extending the environment and visually making us feel that there is more to see behind the central figure.

Hiroshige, flowing in swirls

Another amazing piece by printmaker Hiroshige...the lines created by the concentric circles, the flow of the water and white caps...a formal exercise in creating line work that is interesting by contrasting sizes and shapes...the spaces between the white caps vary, creating interest and the scale of the white caps in the swirl...larger and in higher concentration than the rest of the picture plane...the unique shape and line work make it a point of interest.

The rectangular picture plane is broken into zones, top zone is sky with finger like shapes, the white clouds mimic the shape of the white wave tops...carrying the viewer into zone two, the rock break, jutting up into the sky at their highest point and gradually scaling down into the ocean...the final zone, whirlpool references elements of color and line in the other two zones, creating a tight and cohesive, complete piece of beauty.

Hiroshige verses Van Gogh

There is an amazing collection of Japanese copies at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam...This is a good example of one of Van Gogh's copies of a Hiroshige print...Color is a little off, but I found the prints the perfect combination of the Japanese simplicity with the thick and meaty painting style of Van Gogh.

The centralized, tree image breaks the front picture plane and is not only prominent in scale, it is also dominant in value and scope. It breaks the picture plane up into unique, separate windows...showing us a visual narrative in the spaces between branches, flowers and tree trunk. A beautiful composition, flowing and organic.

Hiroshige, the cold days

Capturing the essence of a winter...another beautiful and subtle print of Hiroshige...a process of articulating in pure value with only hints of color and neutrals...in these works, the signature stamp becomes part of the image, it must be balanced in order to have a complete image...the red at the top, in the obi of the woman carrying the bag and in the left corner, carrying the eye around.

The central blue figure, is secondary to the overall landscape...the human beings are only ornamentation to the grand qualities of the natural space...this fact is consistent in several Japanese prints...mythology and the cultural narrative are also visually articulated by specific artists.