the New Palette #66

Renowned artist and teacher FRANK WEBB* suggests

design
before
color
Because color is perceived
instantly, it is inclined to gain
first place in a work order. Color
is pure quality, it enthralls. But,
before color must come design.
Consider the human body. There
is flesh and bone under the skin.
When painting, line is bone,
values are the flesh, and color is
skin. The marks made on paper or
canvas are elements of design. The
next few pages deal with these
elements. Design is the gravity
that holds a painting together. By
* In 1980 Frank Webb, AWS-DF, NWS left advertising art to pur- observation, anyone can learn to
sue painting and teaching art. He has been a guest instructor in all draw things, but design deals not
50 states and numerous global locations as well. John Salminen, with things but with relationship
prominent painter has said of Webb, “The abstract concept is con- among things. Design is a tribunal
veyed by him in a very specific manner. His mantra is ‘paint shapes,
in that it enables one to judge
not things’. We learn from him that every representational painting
needs a strong abstract foundation.” Nine museums have collected
their marks while also providing a
his work. sense of ease from the security of
design awareness.

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the New Palette #66

Value

Hudson Grain Mill, Watercolor, 9” x 12”

This monochromatic preliminary sketch was

one of several from which I chose to make a finished
painting. The eye is drawn to light and dark. So, be
sure to utilize tonal values to catch the eye. While
color helps differentiate one shape from another, the
light-dark scheme is what projects the most import-
ant contrast. To simplify a painting, I design with
four values: white, light middle, dark middle, and
dark. Brilliant color resides in the two middle values,
not in the lights and darks.

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Shape

Against the Sea, Watercolor, 11” x 15”

Shape is the sine qua non of painting. This paint-

ing has a dominance of triangular shapes. A good
shape should be longer in one direction and should
interlock with its neighboring shapes. A subject
often dictates a certain shape dominance, but if not,
the painter should provide this quality as a ploy. A
poor shape may be improved by stretching, slanting
or interlocking with neighbor shapes. The shapes in
this small painting resulted from speedy work with a
two-inch flat brush.

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Size

Market, San Miguel Allende, Watercolor, 22” x 30”

Every painting should have three sizes: small,

medium and large. Having these three sizes offers a
feeling of completeness. For the sake of dominance,
one area or shape should be the largest. Fill the
area with the subject, e.g. Caesar on a Roman coin.
Dominance is character. There is no room in a
painting for optical democracy. One size prevails. An
exception for size dominance is a checkerboard. But,
perhaps that scheme can be regarded as a texture
rather than a pattern.

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Direction
Let’s say that there are only
three directions: horizontal,
vertical and slanted. A
painting achieves unity when
one of those directions is
dominant over the others. For
variety, all three directions are
needed. The vertical suggests
dignity; the horizontal
dominance expresses stability,
while the slanting direction
declares energy. There are
very few horizontals in this
painting. I like to place a few
horizontals and verticals so
there is a relationship to the
borders of the painting.

On the High Road, Watercolor, 22” x 15”

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the New Palette #66

Line

Biddeford Pool, Watercolor, 15” x 22”

Here, line does not refer to line drawing, but to

boundaries of shapes. There are only two varieties of
boundaries, the curved and the straight. If one type
does not dominate, then take charge and provide
one. Curves make straights more beautiful and vice
versa. A painting with all curves is flabby and one
with all straights is brittle. It is good practice to make
a line drawing with a specific focus on this concern.
Christopher Schink’s works are terrific examples of
this concept.

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Texture

Lake Erie Light, Watercolor, 15” x 22”

Someone once said, “Texture is the last refuge of

a scoundrel.” Texture is often hauled in when other
elements are feeble. Texture can be the icing on the
cake if the cake is otherwise substantial. It also adds
a tactile dimension to the visual. The entire painting
can be a texture. Small spots dominate a Georg-
es Seurat painting in the pointillist manner, while
a Toulouse-Lautrec poster is made of simple, flat
shapes. Texture may also be used to separate one area
or item from the others.

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Color

Sunny Side up, Watercolor, 15” x 22”

The most attractive attribute of color is

interaction in their combination. In this sense
no one color is more beautiful than another. A
chaotic jumble of colors is unified when one
of them is made dominant (e pluribus unum).
If failing to create color dominance, another
option is to go for plan B, a temperature domi-
Color Dominance Cool Dominance
nance: a cool dominance or a warm one. Hav-
ing successfully fulfilled the preceding six steps,
time now may be exclusively devoted to color.

Warm Dominance

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 the New Palette #66

Wrap Up

Seated Figure, Watercolor, 22” x 30”

Most landscape subjects have many parts

requiring a multifarious design, but even this
simple figure painting has a dominant shape
and also dominance of value, size, direction,
line, texture, and color. I call these the nouns
of design, but there are also eight verbs of
design: unity, contrast, dominance, repetition,
alternation, harmony, balance, and gradation.
For information on these, go online to
artshow.com/webb to order Frank’s books,
Dynamic Composition, and also his new coffee
table book, Frank Webb’s, Life And Art.

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