In many paintings you want to focus the viewer’s attention on one part of the painting by making one part of the painting (the focal point or focal area) more interesting and by directing the viewer’s eye to that point or area. In this unit you will learn a range of techniques for doing that in order to give your work more variety and make it more interesting for the viewer. You will also learn how to use color notans to help plan the color harmony in your painting. These studies are very different from mass and contour notan paintings but are a powerful tool for exploring your design before you commit to paint. Since they take only a few minutes to do, they can make the difference between a poor and a very strong color harmony in your paintings.

In this course you will learn:

• why you need a focal point in your painting to make your painting interesting
• the difference between a focal point and a focal area
• four techniques for focusing the viewer’s attention on one part of the painting
• the principle of contrast of saturation
• how to use directing lines to focus your viewer’s attention
• the principle of contrast of light and dark and how to use it
• how to use the principle of one thirds to position your focal point
• how to increase the interest in your painting by adding a secondary focal area
• how to work out your color harmony quickly

Total number of assignments: 5

Total number of pages: 18