Rhythm and repetition are integral parts of artistic design. Although I pair them together, they are not simply variations of the same thing or two sides of the same coin. They are two aspects of design that work together.

Repetition in art is the repeated use of a specific element. The element doesn’t have to be exactly the same each time it is repeated but it should be recognized as essentially the same even if there is a change to its size, color, shape, or texture.

The principle of repetition is used to emphasize, adorn, and lead the eye as well as being a tool to create rhythm and movement. Design elements commonly used to create repetition include marks, lines, shapes, forms and even color.

Rhythm is the regularity and perceived tempo of repetition. Is commonly employed to suggest movement and evoke atmosphere or emotion. Rhythm helps to define the energy in a piece by setting the pace of its perceived motion while leading the eye around the composition.

Rhythm can’t be established without repetition and repetition is going to define some kind of rhythm so, you see, they are quite the design duo. Let’s look at what you can do with them to support the intention of the work you’re creating.

(Opening image: Martina Buriánová employs repetition to create a random as well as a regular rhythm in this intriguing pendant. She also displays examples of both a fast tempo (in the white dots down to the middle) and a slow tempo (in the black dots dropping away from the grid of dots) in the rhythm created.)

Types of Rhythm

Regular rhythm

This is established when an element is repeated at a regular distance and usually in a straight or predictable path. Classic pearl necklaces have a regular rhythm as do, white picket fences, and those dashed lines down the middle of the highway. Regular rhythms support the concept of order and predictability.

Laura Timmins’ necklace is an example of some pretty dense random rhythm. She uses a set of, what looks to be, six different types of elements, each used numerous times, some with varying colors while others vary in size, all crowded together in a random and crowded composition that speaks to an undersea world teeming with life.

Random rhythm

When elements are repeated without a recognizable order, that would be considered random. Nature is, of course, big on random rhythm such as a line of trees at the edge of a forest, the scattering of seashells on a beach, or the blooms of flowers on a bush. Random rhythm support concepts that are frenetic, organic, or involve a high energy emotion, among other things.

Progressive rhythm

DDee Wilder’s carved ring uses a progressive rhythm in the enlarging of the shapes revealed through its carving that makes it almost pulse with energy.

This describes the use of a repeated element that progressively changes as it moves through the composition. Changes in size, color, shape, or value are common changes that can create progression in rhythm. Examples include the chambers of a Nautilus shell, the scales of a pinecone, and even those dashed lines on the highway getting smaller as they run towards the horizon. A rainbow Skinner blend is also a type of progressive rhythm as the lines of color change hue. These all speak to concepts like growth, progression, and movement through space.

Flowing rhythm

This can be about the arrangement of the repeated elements or the type of element used to create that repetition but it always involves curved or circular elements or formations. The reason it is discussed separately from other types of rhythm is because it’s specifically used to create flowing movements. Examples in nature include waves, masses of climbing vines, or the rippled layers in sandstone. These support concepts such as comfort, calm, and acceptance.

Alternating rhythm

Małgorzata Wawrzyńczak’s silk screen bracelet has an alternating rhythm in color (black-orange-red-turquoise) but she changes up the width of each line as well as the pattern.

This type of rhythm uses two or more elements, alternately repeated. You can usually identify a second type of rhythm within an alternating rhythm such as regular, progressive, or flowing rhythms. Alternating the repeated elements is a common way to take a regular rhythm up a notch in a beaded necklace, particularly through the use of spacer beads or changing the color or pattern of every other or every third bead. This rhythm increases energy and adds interest.

Creating tempo

The type of rhythm you choose will be the first step in creating tempo but your size, placement, and proximity of the elements will also affect the perceived speed and weight of that rhythm. For example:

• Small elements repeated lean towards feeling light and staccato.
• Large, repeated elements tend to feel heavy and deliberate.
• When elements are set close together it feels fast.
• Distance between elements slows the tempo down, particularly when there are just a few of them.

Of course, consider the tempo you want that supports the intention of what you’re creating just as you choose marks and lines that have characteristics to support your intention. So, between choosing the element to be repeated, determining a type of rhythm, and setting the tempo, the use of repetition and the characteristics of its rhythm can be key to getting across the ideas and concepts of your work.

Looking forward to the New Year

So, what have you decided for your 2021? What will be your priorities and your goals?

I have a big list myself. I will be sharing some changes and thoughts in the coming week, so stay tuned!

I do wish you all the very best in the start of this new year and thank you so much for spending time with me this past year!

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The uneven proportion of the windows in this steel, paper, and liquid polymer pendant by Tish Collins adds variation as well as bringing our attention to the large primary window and its details. Making the smallest window also the darkest keeps it from being ignored as dark values also draw our attention, aiding in the balance between the left and right side of the pendant.

Do you remember in October when we were talking about the concept of size? Although size is considered an element because it is a characteristic of the forms you work with, it is so intertwined with the design concept of scale and proportion that the discussion may have felt a little incomplete back then. Well, this week we will delve into it in more depth and, hopefully, make you feel complete! Well, at least in your knowledge of size, proportion, and scale.

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Scale vs. Proportion

Although we design nerds tend to talk about proportion and scale together, they are actually 2 different things. Proportion is about the relative size between two or more objects or details when they are grouped together or juxtaposed. Scale, on the other hand, refers to how big or small something is compared to the general understanding of how a thing usually is or our expectation of how it should be.

You can use both of them to add variation in contrast to your work. Many of us do this intuitively but having a better understanding of what they are can help you do so intentionally as well as giving you another tool to increase or decrease contrast as needed. Let me give you the definitions of each with a few examples.

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Proportions

My 75-pound black German shepherd, Ember, is small compared to my friend’s 120-pound monster of a German shepherd, Ican. (Ican, by the way, stands for I Can Eat You Whole. I have some very humorous friends if a tad morbid.) However, Ember is large compared to her housemate here, Kimba, a 32-pound spitz. Our perception of Ember’s size as a dog changes relative to other dogs she is next to so she is proportionately smaller than Ican but proportionately larger than Kimba. That’s proportion.

The perspective of this photo exaggerates the proportions between Ember and Kimba but it was deliberate choice. The exaggeration allowed me to better hint at who is more attentive to her people!

I know that example isn’t art but who doesn’t like a little doggie detour? So, okay, as a visual art example, let’s talk circles but use the color and size of the dogs as our basis. That would give us a large brown circle, a medium black circle, and a small white circle. If these circles are part of an art piece, the differences in size says something about the importance of each circle. In general, larger means more important than smaller. That certainly not always true but we’ll get to that in a minute.

Since we have a tendency to personify inanimate objects, we often consciously or unconsciously assign some form of social or power dominance when comparing grouped objects, just like we would with those dogs. Ican certainly sounds like the most powerful of the 3 and Kimba seems like the one that would be dominated by the other two. We are likely to assign the same sense of dominance to the circles. This perceived dominance can help us determine hierarchy.

Now, of course, as noted last week, characteristics of an element can make it stand out even if it is smaller, especially when it comes to color, although texture and marks can make a huge difference as well. But the takeaway here is that you can alter the proportion of elements in a piece to help create hierarchy, aid balance, and/or create contrast.

(By the way, if you’ve had dogs, you know that size doesn’t actually tell you much. Kimba is, of course, the toughest of the bunch and Ican gets scared if you laugh too loud!)

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Scale

Megan Bogonovich isn’t one for limitations or meeting the usual expectations. The scale of these beads, so much larger than we’d expect someone to wear, really draws your attention as does the fabulous choice of model!

Now, with scale, we are dealing with our perception of how things should be rather than comparing objects to each other. For example, we expect a chair to be sized for human beings to sit in and a teapot big enough to hold a decent amount of tea yet be easy to pick up and pour from. Anything significantly larger or smaller than these expectations would be a change in scale. It’s like a mini pinscher. They look like someone hit a Doberman with a shrink ray! Anything hit with a shrink ray would have a difference of scale.

In art, scale often relates to reproductions or representations of things we are familiar with that are much smaller or much larger than expected such as miniature food or large brooches of small insects. But that’s not the only way it works. We also look at things in terms of our expectations for things in a more general sense.

For instance, you walk into the park and are faced with a 12-foot-high silver monolith. First, you alert the local news stations as to the appearance of yet another mysterious monolith, this time in your local park. (If you’re unfamiliar with the mysterious monolith trend, check out these stories.) You tell them it is big and tall and silver. Now, why did you say it was big and tall? There are no other monoliths nearby to make a judgment and there is no standard for the size of a monolith.

The reason you would say that is because we look at things in terms of its relation to our size. If something is taller than us than it is usually thought of as tall. If it is bigger than us then we think of it as big. Strangely enough, if it’s smaller than us, is not always thought of as small because if we can handle it then it is a usable size. Large and small not only did note our perception of size but also our perception of whether the size is proper or normal.

I know … another non-art photo but it’s too good an example of scale! This is myself and my step-daughter feeling like munchkins on this oversized picnic bench in Sydney, Australia. From a distance it looked like a normal sized table so it was quite a surprise and delight to experience the scale of it.

Adjustments to our expectation of scale in art is used to convey concepts. For instance, a sense of things like enormity, importance, or presence can be relayed when the scale is large. Items on a small scale invite us to come in for a closer look often for the purpose of eliciting wonder and joy. So, if you’re making a necklace that is very large it’s going to have a presence that can give it a bit of a “wow” factor. If it is very small and dainty, the goal would more likely be to elicit a smile or curiosity.

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Now, What You Do with It?

Stopping to think about your artwork in terms of how it will appear in scale and proportion will, like every design element or concept we discuss, give you the opportunity to make intentional decisions that can further affect the way the work is viewed and experienced. You have to make a decision about size for all your elements. Just include considerations for how the proportions (how elements will be seen relative to each other) and scale (our expectations of size) can support those intentions.

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Get it there by Christmas deadlines: Our guaranteed delivery deadlines are past as of today but the Priority Mail option might still make it if ordered by Monday morning and ships to a Western US address, otherwise you or your giftee can look forward to late season treats the week after Christmas (US) or a start to the new year (outside US)!

*Discount good on all regularly priced Christi Friesen books excluding package specials. Discounts end December 21st, 2020

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This mixed media collage by Anna Dabrowska has all its activity on the right and well as having the face, lines and opening of spaces predominantly looking or leading towards the center.

This week’s concept is not a Design Principle as you might have expected. We’ll return to that usual programming next week. Instead, I want to share something I chatted with Club members about a couple weeks ago that does tie into both composition and the concept balance we’ve been talking about. To start out, here’s a question for you.

How long do you want people to spend looking at your work?

Ideally, we want them to spend a ton of time! This is affirming for us as artists but also demonstrates the attractiveness and interest of our work. So, to keep them looking, it helps not to lead them off your “canvas” with elements that direct them towards and off the edge of your work.

It’s not that there aren’t times when you want to allude to what might be “off the canvas” but let’s assume you want to lead the viewer’s eye around and inside the piece. To keep them inside, you want to direct your elements inside as well.

For instance, if you have a profile of a face, have it turned toward the inside of the work, not towards its closest edge or, just like when you see a guy looking up, you’ll follow that gaze right off the edge wondering what they are looking at.

Same would go for anything that is arrow-like or has any kind of perceived front. You will usually want these things to face inward to keep the viewer in the composition.

So that’s a trick you can use for keeping viewers inside the composition. I’ve got one more little idea for you though.

Important elements, focal points in particular, do better when they are set off to the right (if they are not being centered which can be a very strong, if sometimes stagnant, position). I believe it’s because we start taking things in from the left and move right. You don’t want to have the most interesting part on the left with little of interest going on to the right to continue drawingthe eye in that direction.

I suspect this preference for the right side is largely a western world phenomenon because we read from left to right. I do wonder (and tried to research it but came up with nothing so far) if in countries where they read right to left or top to bottom, if they like things to be opposite the side they start reading on. Regardless, thinking about how we read a page should help you remember that little rule.

Again, it’s art, so keep in mind that the so-called rules are just ways to guide your thinking. Many artists create successful compositions without regard to these two ideas but these ideas are good options or a place to start. They could also be helpful if you need ideas to help fix a composition that doesn’t quite look right. Perhaps the right side is being ignored or strong elements lead off the canvas but nothing draws the eye back.

These ideas are certainly worth experimenting with, just don’t let them block you from experimenting beyond them.

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