Watercolor Artist - USA (2019-12)

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naturally line up, causing the eye to
connect them. A row of cars, or tele-
phone poles, or a line of windows can
create this implied line right down the
street. A psychic line occurs when
there’s no physical line at all, but a
direction is clearly indicated. Th ere’s
a mental connection the viewer cre-
ates when the eye is led by a pointing
arrow or the gaze of a subject’s eyes.
You’ll look where someone is looking,
even though there’s no line there.
Placement also can refer to the
location in the composition at which
a focal point resides. Placing an object
dead-center always takes attention,

although this formal or symmetrical

arrangement might not be very inter-

esting. Placement with the use of a

frame or framing device is also a very

powerful compositional tool. A door-

way, window frame, sweep of a tree

branch or area under a bridge beauti-

fully frames a focal point.

A guideline for a strong focal point

location is the widely recognized “rule

of thirds.” If a composition is divided

into three equal horizontal parts and

three vertical parts (like a tic-tac-toe

grid), the intersections at which

these lines cross are visually pleasing

locations for focal points. Th e idea is

that these are inherently strong places

in a composition.

AN EMPHASIS BY FOCUS

AND DEPTH OF FIELD

Th is technique became apparent with

the advent of photography. When

a foreground element remains sharply

in focus while the background goes

out of focus, the foreground element

becomes the focal point. Softening

the background can reduce distracting

elements and help isolate the subject.

Prior to photography, we also saw

this in the paintings of Johannes

Vermeer (Dutch, 1632–1675),

CENTER

PARK-M23 & 10th Ave.

(watercolor on paper,

40x26) uses Emphasis by

Color to establish a focal

point. The immediate

focal point is the PARK

sign, not only because it’s

red, but also because the

eye is drawn to objects

that we can read (the bus

route sign less so). There’s

also a frame around PARK

that emphasizes the word.

I then used a triangle of

yellow for accents, as this

leads the eye down the

street and back to the

bus, then up to the traffi c

light, enabling the viewer

to explore the com-

position. The green “10 Av’

sign is yet another accent,

using the complementary

color of the PARK sign.

I chose not to add eyes to

the face in the bus ad;

otherwise, that’s all the

viewer would notice,

thanks to the psychic line.

LEFT

Hill View Motel, 29 Palms

(watercolor on paper,

60x40) illustrates the

rule of thirds, focusing

the interest in the bottom-

left intersection. The red

MOTEL sign serves as an

Emphasis by Color and

Emphasis by Placement.

The implied lines of the

telephone poles create

a radial design that

also leads the eye to

the focal point.