The human eye is attracted by contrast.
The human heart is held by harmony.
The human spirit is connected by story.
Harmony is huge! Much bigger than we give this humble Design Principle credit for.
Harmony is what Nature does automatically. We humans, in trying to represent Nature in art, would do well to understand how harmony works and apply this principle in our designs.
First a definition:
Harmony is…
the quality of forming a pleasing and consistent whole.
In Music, the simultaneous combination of tones, especially when blended into chords, is pleasing to the ear.
In Art, a principle of design, when it is used well, creates a state of agreement or orderly arrangement or a pleasing combination of design elements according to color, value, size, shape, direction, line, texture, etc.
How Harmony works
Harmony in our painting is achieved when the design elements come together in a unified way. Certain elements and principles can and should be repeated. Look for any opportunity to use Repetition and Variety (two other Design Principles we’ll discuss later) in your scenes. Look carefully for Elements that can be repeated. Be careful though, repetition can quickly lead to lazy painting or dabbing for the sake of being active physically but disengaged mentally. Be deliberate and present with each brushstroke. Catch yourself when the dabbing starts and stop painting. Pause, reset, refocus, and look for distinct shapes within your scenes that still need help or aren’t working in relationship with your other shapes. These marks ultimately need to look and feel like they are contributing value to a whole design.
Color and Value Harmony
When painting en Plein Air, be careful not to be so set in your ways that you don’t see the temperature of the light at the time you are painting. Also, take into consideration the overall local color of things and the color of light at the time of day you are painting. Keep in mind, as the day progresses, the light’s colors getting warmer and warmer until sunset, when they are flaming hot. Harmony in values is tied to the 3rd dimensional depth of your scene. The deeper your scene goes, the closer your value relationships should be.
Shapes and Forms
Experimenting with shapes and forms is key for any painter. Adding a variety of shapes and sizes along with strong representational forms of your 3D objects will make for convincing shapes and spaces.
Edge
Harmony of edges
Describing your shapes and the forms’ edges in a harmonious way with each other is often a matter of taking into consideration how the eye itself sees. For example, directing your gaze means that certain things come into focus and other things are blurred and hazy. The human eye does not see everything in detail all at once. The degree in which you create this illusion and or allow your viewer to create this illusion is what makes your art uniquely your own. As a general guideline, hard edges attract attention, soft edges reduce attention. Use this guideline to your design advantage. Also feel free to bend and break this guideline as you see fit to give a different meaning or attribute to your subjects.
Texture
Harmony of textures
Nature has a variety of textures. Do we try to replicate the textures with our paint or will color and value be enough to convey the intent we have? Texture, because of its detail and 3D depth, has a way of attracting the eye. Less texture has a way of minimizing attention. Use this feature to your advantage. Harmony of texture can also work well in creating depth to your scenes. You’ll notice more texture to shapes closer to you and less texture to distant shapes. And the relationship between no texture and maximum texture creates good harmony.
Size
Harmony of sizes
Shapes that have similar characteristics are visually read as harmonious. Introducing contrasting sizes of shapes may lead to visual discord: jagged edged lines against curves for example.
Proportion is a slightly different case. The same sizes repeated in a painting may be too similar for true harmony. Instead, shapes that differ in sizes by consistent ratios achieve good balance. I often use the phrase “Continents and Islands” to simulate the organic sizes of the shapes we make. This clustering design principle is used frequently in nature. Just when it comes to representing these organic shapes in paint, it’s good to mentally say “Continents and Islands,” or I’ve heard some artists use other phrases such as, “Papa Bear, Momma Bear, and Baby Bear.”
Brushwork
Harmony of Brushwork is also a good practice to develop. Test different strokes when creating your shapes. Add varieties of pressures, direction, and start and end movements to describe your shapes.
Subject
The Harmony of Subjects you choose to place in your paintings also tells a story that is congruent. Adding objects to your scene that make very little sense, or create questions as to why they are in the painting, creates Disharmony. But then again, this may be the very reason the painting needs to be painted, for the humor or disassociation message it conveys.
Style
Harmony of Styles considers the many possible styles that can be used to capture this moment. The style should be consistent throughout. So, you may not want to use pointillism in one area of the painting and realism in the rest of the painting. It may look disjointed.
Direction
Harmony of Direction refers to the natural movement and direction of shapes and their flow. However, it’s good to add variety and go perpendicular to the direction and flow; just be deliberate about it. For example, when painting tree trunks and branches of the tree, the natural direction of growth is up and out from the ground. Most artists paint the tree with their brushstrokes following this growth, but it’s good to interrupt this direction with a perpendicular stroke going across the grain.