Post 181: Composition 16. Use Negative Space Around Objects

Composition: Use Negative Space Around Objects

This is Part 16 of my series on Composition

How do you use the area around your subject? Do you fill the whole canvas, the whole photo, the entire piece of paper up with 'stuff'? You don't have to. Sometimes it makes for a more impactful canvas, photo or paper when you leave stuff off.

Positive Space

Positive space is the subject matter of the painting, drawing or photograph. Positive space, also referred to as the active or activated space, is what the artist wants you to notice first. It is usually what the artwork is about, but how the artist frames that subject can be the negative space.

Negative Space

Also called "white space", negative space doesn't have to be the color white in an art piece. It is the 'blank area', in the photo or painting that can truly make the subject pop out because of the contrast, the simpleness of the area around the active space. With good use of negative space, the artwork may look too busy or be overwhelming to the viewer.

 

 

Photo by History in HD on Unsplash  

Quite literally, negative space

 

Negative space can add the feeling of vastness, emptiness, stillness or even loneliness as in this picture below.

 

 

Photo by Majestic Lukas on Unsplash

Less is more quite often in artwork. There is less distraction, there can be better balance and when done very well, make your artwork much more impactful.

 

For further reading: 

What is Negative Space - Definition, Examples in Art & Film by Kyle Deguzman

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This is part of a series of blog posts on the guidelines, or rules of composition. Look for all of them in the Search this Blog feature at the top right by searching for the word "composition". I hope you enjoy the posts!

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Local Art: Visit us at Stonebridge Open Space Arts at 15000 Potomac Town Center, Woodbridge, VA - Open Wed to Sat 12-7 and Sun 12-5 – it’s free to see the artwork! Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!

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Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at https://DonnaLiguriaArt.com & her Blog at https://donnascavepainting.blogspot.com/.

Post 180: Art Tips from the PWAS Members

Art Tips from the PWAS Members

Periodically there is a call for an art topic from the PWAS members that could be almost anything art related. The responses are collected and posted from the respondents into one or two posts accordingly. 

 

Photo by Anton Sukhinov on Unsplash 

Art Topic: What art tip would you pass along to other artists and PWAS members?

Sandra McClelland Lewin

"Never compare your work to that of other artists. Compare your work to your own past work to see how you've grown. Are you consistently improving? That should show in your past and current work and give you the encouragement you need."

My work is primarily realistic paintings of nature done in acrylics.

https://www.SLMLart.com

Mark Murphy 

"This is my Art Tip ... think about the future of art.

Most of you have seen and admired Ken's photo art where he starts with one of his original photos and makes it even more interesting and impactful with digital tools and filters.  What if there was a tool that could take any image you can describe in words and render it in any style in an artistically credible way?  

This tool exists today and like many others I was blown away by the quality of art it produces.  For now, DALL-E 2 is only available to a small community of AI researchers but here is a link to one of many videos online exploring it's potential:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqEHHyffq6U

 

Here is a link to a much less capable public version and some examples on reddit of images people have created.

https://huggingface.co/spaces/dalle-mini/dalle-mini

https://www.reddit.com/r/weirddalle/

 

 

As these capabilities become more widely available, my tip is to start thinking now about how we artists will adapt to this new world."

My Mediums are: Watercolor, inks

https://markmurphystudios.com  

 

Fatima Farzana (Sumi)

My tip - While painting, listen to your favorite music. It’ll keep you in good mood and help your ideas flow with ease. 

My art style and medium - Abstract and Impressionism are my favorite art styles. My favorite medium is oil but I also like to work with acrylic and resin sculptures.

Bilee Pearson

This is my Art Tip: If painting on a saw blade that is rusty- seal it first then paint fast (put base color down with layers if needed because rust may pull through); the metal/rust dries the paint faster.

My Art Style is anything fun (characters, animals, etc.) and medium is usually Acrylic if in a rush- oil if blending.

Donna Liguria

I have a pile of Art Tips because I am the current PWAS webmaster and Artistry Spin Blogmaster here, so I will direct you to these new pages for help about the Prince William Art Society and Open Space Arts:

Prince William Art Society FAQs

Open Space Arts FAQs

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Local Art: Visit us at Stonebridge Open Space Arts at 15000 Potomac Town Center, Woodbridge, VA - Open Wed to Sat 12-7 and Sun 12-5
The Prince William Art Society is a 50-year old non-profit art group in PWC for the the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia.

Want to know how to get involved at OSA? If you are an artist (18 or older) living in Prince William County, or a are a member of a PWC art group, you are welcome to get on our next art show's emailing list. Send it to us, OR come by the gallery to find out more.

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!

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Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA and Artistry Spin Blog Admin, specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at DonnaLiguriaArt.com, Donna's Etsy site and her Blog at Donna’s Cave Paintings.

Post 179: Open Space Arts Congratulations to the Artists- July-August Art Show

Open Space Arts Congratulations to the Artists- July-August Art Show

Congratulations to the following entrants for acceptance into the July-August Open Space Arts at Stonebridge Gallery.  This art show is called "Summer Spotlight on Art" and promises to be an exceptional show.The jurying of the 40 people who submitted work for consideration was challenging and the jury was excited about the quality and the variety of work that was entered. Great work everyone!

The exhibit will be opening on Wednesday, June 29th and will end on Sunday, August 14, 2022.  Please plan on visiting OSA to see the stellar work of these Prince William County artists, PWAS members, and the other PWC arts organization members who submitted work.

Do not forget that we are hosting OSA training sessions Wednesday, June 22 and Thursday, June 30 at 7:00 for all PWAS/OSA volunteers. Please let email Penny know at shawonesent@gmail.com if you will be joining us. These training sessions are required for you to have your work shown at OSA. Why not get a jumpstart and do the training to get it out of your way?

Altona Bell	Fatima Farzana	Maria Briganti	Sandra Lewin
Ana Quispe	Helen Joyce Burroughs	Mark Murphy	Sheri Herrick
Ann Hollis	Ivonne Sokol	Maureen Guillot	Staci Blanchard
Beth Lagerberg	James Scowcroft	Maureen Storey	Tom Payne
Beth Reece	Kelly Haneklau	Michelle Baker	Tony Muller
Bettie Sperty	Kenneth Meardon	Monica Lara-Crabtree	Urmila Kumari
Brenda Vann	Kyryhan Rodiguez	Otis Stanley
Carol Rusaw	Luis Munoz	Pat Hafkemeyer
Donna Liguria	Luisa Braday	Pat Palmieri
Fatima Batool	Maddie Highland	Richard Tyler

See you at OSA or at our PWAS monthly meeting at Tall oaks Community Center on June 27th at 7:30.

 

This will be our largest art show at Open Space Arts so far with 36 artists on display. We are so excited for you to see it - AND for us to see it all in person too!
 

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Local Art: Visit us at Stonebridge Open Space Arts at 15000 Potomac Town Center, Woodbridge, VA - Open Wed to Sat 12-7 and Sun 12-5
The Prince William Art Society is a 50-year old non-profit art group in PWC for the the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia.

Want to know how to get involved at OSA? If you are an artist (18 or older) living in Prince William County, or a are a member of a PWC art group, you are welcome to get on our next art show's emailing list. Send it to us, OR come by the gallery to find out more.

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!

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Author: Penny Shaw

An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA

 

Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at https://DonnaLiguriaArt.com & her Blog at https://donnascavepainting.blogspot.com/.

Photography/Video Credits: 

Donna Liguria

Post 178: Jim Gallagher Artist Reception at Open Space Arts June 17, 2022

Jim Gallagher Artist Reception at Open Space Arts June 17, 2022

Friday, June 17, 2022 was an artist reception honoring the memory of Jim Gallagher, a long time member of the Prince William Art Society and the Prince William County Arts Council. Friends and family all came to see Jim's artwork on display at Open Space Arts.

 

 

 

 

 

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Local Art: Visit us at Stonebridge Open Space Arts at 15000 Potomac Town Center, Woodbridge, VA - Open Wed to Sat 12-7 and Sun 12-5
The Prince William Art Society is a 50-year old non-profit art group in PWC for the the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia.

Want to know how to get involved at OSA? If you are an artist (18 or older) living in Prince William County, or a are a member of a PWC art group, you are welcome to get on our next art show's emailing list. Send it to us, OR come by the gallery to find out more.

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!

---

Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at https://DonnaLiguriaArt.com & her Blog at https://donnascavepainting.blogspot.com/.

Photography/Video Credits:

 Donna Liguria

 

Post 177: Composition 15. The Highs and Lows of Your Perspective

Composition 15. The Highs and Lows of Your Perspective

This is Part 15 of my series on Composition

When parents are anticipating their toddlers starting to toddle (taking their first steps) they often start child-proofing their homes for the safety of their children. Often, they will get on the floor to foresee what that child might find fascinating at their eye level. So the adult changes their perspective to the low angle.

Changing your perspective in creating art or photography can make the angles more interesting if you changeup the angle from the usual eye level and go low or go high. And a different feeling can be created from just changing the perspective - your eye level.

Capture a person from a low spot can make them seem more powerful, bigger, larger than life.

 

Photo by Michael Kucharski on Unsplash 

 

Photo by Gary Fultz on Unsplash 

A couple of photos from a lower level. How often do you look up at a goat or see the underside of the leaves covered in snow?

 

Photo by Cristofer Maximilian on Unsplash 

This could a drone shot, an aerial view which is not our normal eye level perspective. 

Try getting your shot or your design from a different perspective to make it "not the normal" image.

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This is part of a series of blog posts on the guidelines, or rules of composition. Look for all of them in the Search this Blog feature at the top right by searching for the word "composition". I hope you enjoy the posts!

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Local Art: Visit us at Stonebridge Open Space Arts at 15000 Potomac Town Center, Woodbridge, VA - Open Wed to Sat 12-7 and Sun 12-5 – it’s free to see the artwork! Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!

---

Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at https://DonnaLiguriaArt.com & her Blog at https://donnascavepainting.blogspot.com/.

Post 176: Emerging Artist Reception at Open Space Arts June 16, 2022

Emerging Artist Reception at Open Space Arts June 16, 2022

What an opportunity for the young artists currently showing their art at Open Space Arts at the Stonebridge art gallery in Woodbridge, VA! A month of firsts for some if not all of these young artists. Their first time showing in an art gallery and their first official art reception.

From PWAS member Penny Shaw:

The student reception last night was a success! 

Here are the names of the students who had work displayed at OSA:

Amairra Taylor

Carlos Sanchez

Kofi Karikari - served as host

Isabel Kinney

Kyla Erickson

Roberto Leon

Taylor Briggs

L.A. Mejias

We had 50 or more attendees from family members to friends celebrating the accomplishments of the emerging artists.

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to all of these emerging artists and we look forward to seeing much more from you all in the future. This is such a great beginning to all of your creative lives!

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Local Art: Visit us at Stonebridge Open Space Arts at 15000 Potomac Town Center, Woodbridge, VA - Open Wed to Sat 12-7 and Sun 12-5
The Prince William Art Society is a 50-year old non-profit art group in PWC for the the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia.

Want to know how to get involved at OSA? If you are an artist (18 or older) living in Prince William County, or a are a member of a PWC art group, you are welcome to get on our next art show's emailing list. Send it to us, OR come by the gallery to find out more.

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!

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Author: Penny Shaw

An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA

 

Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at https://DonnaLiguriaArt.com & her Blog at https://donnascavepainting.blogspot.com/.

Photography/Video Credits:
Penny Shaw

Post 175: An Artist Message from Otis Stanley, a PWAS Member

An Artist Message from Otis Stanley, a PWAS Member

Otis Stanley is a Prince William Art Society member and if you haven't seen his work before, you most assuredly will want to see it now. Set to music, art with a message is one of the most powerful things in the world.

Building upon an idea from beginning to completion. Music enhancing the journey. 

"There But For Grace..Go I" by Otis Stanley

https://youtu.be/os4Re5SWpHc - if you have any trouble with the video

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Local Art: Visit us at Stonebridge Open Space Arts at 15000 Potomac Town Center, Woodbridge, VA - Open Wed to Sat 12-7 and Sun 12-5
The Prince William Art Society is a 50-year old non-profit art group in PWC for the the appreciation of fine art throughout the county and Northern Virginia.

Want to know how to get involved at OSA?
If you are an artist (18 or older) living in Prince William County, OR are a member of a local art group, you are welcome to get on our next art show's emailing list. Send it to us, OR come by the gallery to find out more.

Want to join PWAS? Go to https://www.princewilliamartsociety.com/membership

Thank you for visiting, and remember to Share, Follow, and Comment!

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Author: Otis Stanley 

An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA

 

Author: Donna Liguria
An artist member of PWAS in Woodbridge, VA specializing in acrylic painting. She paints landscapes, seascapes, animals and many subjects. Visit her Website at https://DonnaLiguriaArt.com & her Blog at https://donnascavepainting.blogspot.com/.

Photography/Video Credits: 

WyndChymes TV