How to Paint with Negative Space

When used creatively and intelligently, positive and negative space together can tell a story using visual composition alone.

  • Positive space refers to the main focus of a picture, while negative space refers to the background. 
  • When used creatively and intelligently, positive and negative space together can tell a story using visual composition alone.
  • The negative space of a painting can often be more important than the positive space in creating a feeling.
  • Both positive and negative space can play important roles in the overall success of a work of art.
  • Positive space is the area or part of the composition that an object or subject occupies. It is usually the main focus of the painting.
  • When used skillfully, positive space will add interest by enhancing and balancing the negative space in a composition.

Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres

Art Quote

“Drawing includes three and a half quarters of the content of painting…Drawing contains everything, except the hue.”

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Great Art Cinema

My Left Foot
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBvuzaPVFo4

No one expects much from Christy Brown (Daniel Day-Lewis), a boy with cerebral palsy born into a working-class Irish family. Though Christy is a spastic quadriplegic and essentially paralyzed, a miraculous event occurs when, at the age of 5, he demonstrates control of his left foot by using chalk to scrawl a word on the floor. With the help of his steely mother (Brenda Fricker) — and no shortage of grit and determination — Christy overcomes his infirmity to become a painter, poet and author.

Useful Apps

Top Apps for Previewing Your Art on a Wall

Photofunia is a free online photo editor (not a mobile app) that puts your image into a stock collage-style background. There are more than just blank walls here, which is fun but can be tedious to sift through. There are some more creative choices than just “art on a white wall above a couch.” It’s as simple as choosing the background you want, uploading your image from your hard drive or from online, and clicking Go. You can then download the photo. Some images can generate in high-res (they’re marked HD) and some cannot. These are fun and eye-catching, and I can see them as really effective images for Facebook ads promoting your work.

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How to mix Primaries, Secondaries and Tersiaries

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It’s not just a painting It is also a story

I have a story to tell…
I tell mine, and our hearts connect.

Leonie.e.Brown
Artist / Teacher / Writer / Blogger


LifeART School is mentioned in the Cape Town Magazine as one of the BEST Art schools in Cape Town!
Come join us and learn from established teacher and artist: Leonie.e.Brown.
For more info contact Leonie on: leonie@lifeart.co.za

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