Atmosphere in Paintings

It is difficult, maybe impossible, to say what the most important aspect of a painting is. What is it that makes a good painting?
Here is a list of some of the most important aspects:

1. The Notan or abstract design
2. The composition
3. The drawing
4. The colour harmony
5. The brush work
6. Atmosphere

A painting with excellent brush work but lack of good composition will not be appealing, a painting with good colour harmony but poor drawing, will once again not be appealing. A painting should really have to have all the aspects working together to really be a good painting. One of the most difficult things is to create atmosphere. Personally I think it helps to leave out some detail; to leave it to the viewer's own imagination to fill in the gaps. It is good to have some dark areas in a painting, where the viewer has to decide what is happening there. Atmosphere can also be created with certain lighting conditions like early morning fog in a landscape, the yellow-orange light in the late afternoon.

I still have to learn so much, but I think that with this painting I have managed to create atmosphere. You can be the judge. I would like to here from you!

Notan (abstract) pattern - strong design

They say (and they are not the You magazine! They are famous and well established artists), anyway, they say that a painting must have a strong underlying abstract design (also known as Notan design) to be a good painting. The question might be asked, what is a good painting? And who decides what the criteria is for a good painting? Every artist has his or her own unique style and taste. Every viewer has his or her own unique taste. So who is right? I like Renoir's paintings, someone else likes the paintings of Jackson Pollock more.

My personal view is that a painting is good if it draws the viewer's eye into the painting towards the centre of interest, and as soon as the viewer moves his eye away from that focus point, the painting immediately forces him to move his eye back to that focus point. The viewer might not even like the subject matter, or the style of brushwork, or the colours, but he just can't stop looking at the painting.

Remember, I am still learning! I am showing you 2 of my paintings with their abstract designs. The first one does not have a strong design. It might be a nice painting, but it is not a good painting. The dark areas are too scattered.

The second painting is a good painting with a very strong abstract design. It has a definite centre of interest. Can you see what it is? Take note how your eye moves around the picture. Does it go back to that centre of interest every time? This painting also received the most compliments from artists on the Paintings I Love website.