December is a month of contrasts. While it’s a time filled with the hustle and bustle of holiday activities, it also brings us the stillness and colder, darker, shorter days of the winter season.
Artists engage with this sort of contrast to create meaning in their works, and they make full use of these differing experiences to explore the many moods of the season. Some connect with the cold and darkness while others focus on the pristine beauty of the season or the tranquility they perceive. Exploration into contrast of all kinds adds depth to an artist’s creativity and awareness. If we allow ourselves to explore contrast like an artist, we can find inspiration and use our imaginations to discover depth and awareness in everyday life.
It is the dark that makes us appreciate the light, and the cold that makes us appreciate the warm.
~ Anne Copeland
The differences between various aspects of elements in art and music—e.g. color, texture, line, value, emphasis—help artists and composers direct attention to a particular point and create interest, excitement, and drama. They can use contrast to set the mood or tone of a work.
Read more from the December 2016 Newsletter: Contrast and Creativity