sandr037

Dynamic Diagonal The slope of mountains The shape of sailing ships The sweep of the Nike “swoosh” But buildings are usually rectilinear; the cross is a more architectural pattern… Yes?    Actually, no.    Look down your street.   The tops of the buildings recede into the distance at an angle, a diagonal.   The urban environment is chock full of diagonals: streets running into the distance, sky scrapers receding into the sky, roofs angling up like mountain slopes. But let’s rewind everything here. Diagonals have been found in compositions for centuries. The diagonal line suggests movement or perspective. In this regard it is a conflicted pattern; movement is obviously dynamic, but perspective is the orderly reality of the built environment.   The subject of the painting or rendering sets the tone. Madame Raymond de Verninac (above) by Jacques-Louis David mates the diagonal with Hogarth’s curved “Line of Beauty”, creating a calm, designed look. The...

I’ve never been interested in paintings of flowers, but this one hanging in the house of my mother-in-law has grown on me over the years (no pun intended).   It is composed in an iconic circular pattern, which is appropriate since the circle connotes unity, wholeness and family.   There is variety and asymmetry, but the circle is the unmistakable theme. Although the circle seems to be no different than the light or dark spot motif, the reality is that a circle can be suggested in any number of ways.   And, the circle doesn’t need to have anything to do with the pattern of light and dark values.  Portraits that include only the head are natural circle compositions; faces are roughly oval shape after all.   Rubens’ A Child’s Head leads the eye around and into the face.   It is a familiar, almost inbred behavior; to flit from eyes, nose and mouth to cheeks, chin and hairline.   Rubens gives us the hair and clothing as a tease, but we return to the area ...

I try to make a birthday card for my kids every year. This one from several years ago takes an old drawing of an arched double window, and makes it into a weird face. People have been making buildings that resemble human and animal body parts for a long time, as well as pretending that buildings can talk and act like humans. But that is a blog for another time. Here, presented for your viewing pleasure, are a collection of building faces (or facades), and the faces they really want to be. Insect faces are so varied and geometrical that it is hard not to make comparisons. I imagine that the movement toward non-rectilinear modern design will show more and more connection with insect ‘design’. If I could have found a picture of someone in a helmet sticking out their tongue, it would have been perfect. As it is, Bismarck will have to do. Droopy mustaches seem to be everywhere… Snaggle-toothed churches are as rare as a redneck with all his teeth. There are towers that grin at you (insincer...