"Your cyber source for artist news and education!" © 1998, 1999, WetCanvas!

DRAWING - THE USES OF A LINE

Fig.1 Here is a fine example of a rounded feminene forms that make up a youthful face with the full cheeks and rouge lips. Fig. 2 Dedicacy in the grip and in the form of these young fingers. Fig. 3 Powerful mascualine shoulders and arm are defined by the flattened ovals of muscle. If we combine these forms we should get an ambiguous picture, neither male or female, youthful or mature but with elements of them all. Fig.4 This famous painting of Bacchus by Carravggio provides a feast of ambiguities and is an excellent example of how minor variations of form can be altered for particular effects. AMBIGUOUS OR DECADENT LINES What if we alter a form that is female, by virtue of long hair, stockings, high-heeled shoes etc, by the addition of 'male' body lines. Remembering our defined lines... say we flatten the muscles, make the joints a little more angular (aged). What will this do to the 'look'? Perhaps something like the work of this famous painter .... By now you are aware of why I call these lines ambiguous lines, but why decadent? The artist's intention is clear. These are lines in the process of decay and deterioration but more to the artist's intent they are a fascinating mixture of a dual sexuality. This facility, a painter or drawer can employ, to alter the nature of a form by the deliberate use of line is a powerful weapon indeed. You will note the deliberate alteration on the left forearm as the muscles are flattened from their rounded form. TRANSPOSING LINES TO LANDSCAPE VanGough was a master at transposing line to landscape, and there is no ambivalance in the line of VanGough. He used clear purposeful lines in all his landscapes - even in areas without lines - the sky. He often used line as a pattern - and without form. Some of his pictures use the aged line, some the youthful. You can judge by the landscapes below. First look at the youthful lines in the 'Wheat Field and Cypress Pines' ... ... then look at the aged olive trees, he also loved to paint old twisted grape vines. Did VanGough do this deliberately?.... I don't know but my hope is he did. Some might ask does it matter? If you think that you should not be reading this. My final point here is that understanding the power of line in drawing is yet another tool kit used to dissemble and reassemble but like every power it should be used with humanity and sensitivity. The power of communicating with line, and form, is as potent as communicating with words, only more universal. The above painting is merely composed of consistent adult female lines, even the reverse curve of the nose gives the impression it is convex!. I must say I prefer this to the 'ambivalent' example. [ Lesson Index ] [ Previous Lesson ] [ Next Lesson ]