Mesmerizing Movement

Visual movement usually consists of some kind of directional lines. These lines don’t have to be straight. They don’t have to all be the same. They don’t even have to be repeated. But what they do need is to be emphasized in some manner that makes the viewer focus in on them.

Swirls as well as lines that meet at a point are very strong components for creating visual movement because they highlight a single point of focus where the swirl ends or the lines meet.  In other words, the line draws your view, making your gaze ‘move’ across the piece to those single points. And your eyes will keep wanting to do that. This is where the sense of movement comes from. You can see both these in Keila Hernandez‘s beautiful Plum Blossom necklace. 

In Keila’s flowers, the points of focus are in the middle where the lines of the caning bring us. These centered focal points give us reassuring positions of stability, but the swirls on the outside keep pulling the eye back out and actually create repeated points of tension where the paired swirls meet. It makes the flowers feel very lively.

Repetition is another way to increase the visual effect of lines suggesting movement.  One flower would still give a sense of movement because of the lines used, but seeing this effect repeated across the necklace compounds it. Do you get a sense the flowers are almost swirling themselves?

If you are interested in the effect of line on the sense of movement, be sure to read last year’s Fall issue articles on Rhythm and Repetition.