Aug 11, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich
When making art, we use a variety of tools to create a visual story. Let’s call these tools “nouns.” These nouns are the Design Elements we learned about in the last several weeks. They include Line, Shape, Form, Value, Color, Edges, Texture, Size and Direction. Our...
Aug 4, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich
The edges of your canvas or paper are the four most important lines you’ll be using. One of the overall arching concepts found in most of these Design Principles is the idea that our shapes look better when no two increments are the same. The tendency for us...
Jul 27, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich
Direction, a few definitions: A course on which something is moving or is aimed to move or along which something is pointing to or facing. Think compass, also opposite direction. A way that leads to your best track to arrive at your destination. Think GPS. Guidance or...
Jul 22, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich
Size of shape, size of panel, paper, or canvas. I’m ending all debate here with this statement… Yes, size does matter! Let’s start first with the size of your shapes. Think about proportions and ratios. Proportion is the relationship of one size to the whole....
Jul 15, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich
Texture, like form, is everywhere within your painting whether you realize or not. It is your decision to distribute your paint in an ultra-smooth manner or with varied amounts of paint. You may prefer to use various mediums to smooth and eliminate your brushstrokes...
Jul 6, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich
“Everything in life worth achieving requires practice. In fact, life itself is nothing more than one long practice session, an endless effort of refining our motions. When the proper mechanics of practicing are understood, the task of learning something new...
Jul 1, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich
My focus on color is not to give comprehensive theories or complex explanations, but to give a few key principles and lessons I’ve found work well for plein air painting. Key Principles Relationships Relationships are important and must be understood. A single...
Jun 24, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich
Value and Color – These two elements are interestingly linked. One is clearly more important than the other. While Color is nearly always the first to be seen, Value humbly takes a secondary role. It’s often said, ‘Value does the work, while Color gets the...
Jun 17, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich
Understanding Form’s role as a design element is increasing our ability to see in the third dimension. Our ability as artists is greatly enhanced by our ability to see the objects we are painting not as the objects themselves but as three-dimensional forms, and then...
Jun 3, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich
Shapes 2D Shapes are a fundamental building block of Design. Shapes of all dimensions are used to build and construct our compositions. Some of the basic shapes to look for are squares, circles, ovals, rectangles, triangles. We also have more organic shapes such as...
May 27, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich
Design Element: Line Design Principle: Emphasis and Movement A Line is a pathway, the elemental mark, and a moving point. Lines and edges define our visual sense because we identify objects by innately scanning their contours. We are also very effective at using an...
May 20, 2021 | Design Elements & Principles with Steve Puttrich
What is mindfulness?For artists, this skill is essential. Mindfulness is a type of meditation in which you focus on being intensely aware of what you’re sensing and feeling in the moment. Practicing mindfulness involves breathing methods, guided imagery, and...
