Harmony & Unity (Exercise 4)

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Week 4 (Topic: Harmony & Unity) - acrylic paint or poster color

Harmony

Harmony is a principle of art which refers to how well all the visual elements work together. Elements which are in harmony should have some kind of logical progression or relationship. It should just look like it works.

If there is an element which is not in harmony with the rest of the artwork, it should stick-out and be jarring to look at.

Below are some more examples of harmony in art.

Harmony in Color

Harmony in color refers to paintings which utilize a fairly limited range of hues. For example, a painting which features mostly different tones of green, or different tones of blue.

Harmony in Shape

Shape is a strong feature in most of Paul Cézanne's work by him.

Harmony in Value.

Value is a powerful visual element which refers to how light or dark a color is. 

Harmony in Brushwork

Harmony in Style

The painting of Vincent van Gogh are characterized by bold strokes of exaggerated color.

Note: For my paintings I used acrylic paint but I painted them on acid free drawing papers because I didn't have a canvas.

For my harmony artwork, I took the inspiration from a famous artist, Claude Monet.

Monet's painting below demonstrates harmony in color with mostly greens and blues used. This is known as an analogous color scheme.

I try to do the same with my painting by using similar colors of purple and pink throughout the painting.

The first sketch

Then, I proceed to painting it once I satisfied with the sketch

Final Result

Unity

Unity is created when there is a relationship between the different elements in a design or artwork. Unity adds order to a composition and helps us see it as one thing instead of a number of separate parts.

There are a number of techniques that can be used to create unity:

simplicity: Try repeating colors, shapes, values, textures, or lines to create a visual relationship between the elements.

proximity: Group related items together so that these particular items are seen as one cohesive group rather than a bunch of unrelated elements.

repetition

continuation: Treat different elements in the same manner. Continuity helps to create “family resemblances” between different forms.

Allignment: Arranging shapes so that the line or edge of one shape leads into another helps creates unity in your design.

Here are examples of effective use of unity:

For my unity artwork, I try to create a sense of unity by the effective use of repetiton. See how I repeated similar forms of hands throughout the composition?

First sketch

Final Result :)