The dance of opposites

They say every good painting has a dark, a light, a dull and a bright…

In art, opposites really do attract your eye.

Think

dark/light

dull/bright

complementary colors

hard edges/soft edges

spontaneous/intensional

adventurous/safe

intuitive/planned

Or maybe you love for you paintings to have all hard edges, never soft, or all bright colors, and that’s okay, it’s part of your own style.

But these are all things to stop and consider whether you are deciding if your painting is finished, or there’s something not quite right and you’re not sure what it is.

I personally am striving toward light, bright, spontaneous and intuitive painting, but those qualities won’t shine without their opposites, dark, dull, intensional and planned, right?

So embrace the dance through the opposites, in life and in art!