Art Objects Make Room Come Alive

Objects of art are sometimes awfully energetic - for being inanimate objects, of course.

We know clay is not alive, as in, clay is considered a non-living material. However, when clay is sculpted into a form, it can take on its own unique personality. Knowing how objects interact with us and our surroundings can be enjoyable as well as helpful in the creation of beauty.
This object, this ceramic piece, caused the stir. Looking through a Guild Catalog,

I saw the object WAS that cannonball girl. I was seven years old. It was MY curled-up body. My knees drawn tight to my chest. I could feel the impact of hitting that water. I was under the warm summer sky. I felt the SPLASH! It was me, me, me. There is nothing like a cannonball! For a split second, I was the art.



Article continued, including Mini Black Bottom Cheesecakes recipe, click here.

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Design Concept - Golden Mean And Golden Rectangle

Understanding design concepts such as the Golden Mean regarding proportion - the ideal relationship of things to themselves - will help you not only be better prepared to create beauty around you but it will enhance your enjoyment of that beauty.

It is noteworthy that since Renaissance times, the concept of the Golden Mean and the Golden Rectangle have been used in the undertaking of art and architecture. Not just artists and architects have incorporated the Golden Mean, but mathematicians (and more recently, readers of "The Da Vinci Code,) have been fascinated by mathematical proportions and the Golden Mean. It's the basis of much of the artwork of Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo.

Today for architects and designers, the Golden Mean has become a standard proportion used:

• in facades of buildings,



• in first story to second story proportion,



• in the dimensions of paintings and picture frames,



• in planning a room or elevating a wall and the sizes of the windows or the spaces between or above or below.





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Definition of Golden Mean: is a formula for dividing a line at between 2/3 and 1/2 its length. This formula is believed to result in the segments being satisfactory proportions, believed to be pleasing to the human being.





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Definition Of The Golden Rectangle: is any rectangle in which the ratio of the short side to the long side is 3 to 5 or of course any extensions of this ratio such as 4 x 6, 6 x 9, etc.






Example of Golden Rectangle in an area rug, a typical interior decor item:



This Ocean Corsaro area rug from Gumps San Francisco measures 4' x 6', it is an example of the golden rectangle.

Example of Golden Rectangle in a significant historical architecture - the Parthenon.








The Greeks built the Parthenon so that its width is perfect in relation to its height, as in the golden rectangle.

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Determining the Golden Rectangle: Let's say you are considering adding on a room addition and your available area is 18' in width and plenty of land, what should be the length of your room? Divide the 18' by 2 and arrive at 9'. Add the 9' to the 18' and you have 27'. Therefore the dimensions of your new room should be 18' x 27'.

You can create the ideal proportion whether you base the measurement on the length or the width. For example, suppose the length of the room were 18'. What would be the ideal width? It would be 12', because when you divide 18 by 1.5, it becomes 12; therefore the ideal dimensions would be 12' x 18'.

When you know good proportion, you can see why an area rug is so satisfying and why a long hall gives you claustrophobia.







Interior designers have ways to correct flawed proportions in many instances. The hallway shown in the above photograph has been architecturally corrected by the beautiful archways. If you have a long narrow hallway, a less expensive idea is to place a mirror at the end of the hall to bring in light and visually widen the space. You can either hang a traditional mirror in a frame or mirror the whole wall from cornice to baseboard.



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When you learn how to see ideal proportions, you feel great satisfaction. You can use your knowledge of proportion in every aspect of your life. Although there is a scientific standard for ideal proportions, your eye can be trained to see and envision proper proportions as well as to recognize ill proportion. To the untrained eye, proportion is abstract and complex, yet it is the most pervasive principle of seeing. The ancient Greeks called proportion the soul of what we see.

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The Design Concept Series endeavors to help you bring more beauty and harmony into your home by helping you learn to see better and by helping you to know how to incorporate important design principles




*** Art Objects Are Alive With Energy
*** Balance - Achieving It In Designing Rooms
*** Lines As Forms
*** Rhythm - Its Good For Dance & Room Design
*** Scale & Proportion - Helps You More Assuredly Create Beauty

Design Concept - Lines As Forms

This article is one in a series on Design Concepts, this one about seeing lines as forms.

My desire is not just to help you learn to create beautiful rooms but to help you create rooms that are beautiful to you.

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The abstract expressionist artist Irving Kriesberg wrote about pure seeing and the power of lines:

"Our eye responds to assemblages of

lines, colors, shapes, masses.

Real objects may be seen abstractly;

abstract elements may be seen as reality."

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Straight Lines - straight lines can be horizontal, vertical or diagonal.

Horizontal lines often dominate a room and there is sometimes a need to mix it up a bit, but horizontal lines are important in design. They give a room the feeling of repose and restfulness. horizontals are often thought to be masculine in nature, giving solidity to the composition. They also increase the casual feel in a room.

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Vertical lines tend to give a room the feeling of height and dignity; they are strong and direct.

Diagonal lines can be tricky because they not only attract attention, but also lead the eye. The question is where is the eye being led to.

Exercise to develop design concept regarding diagonal lines: Draw a diagonal line on paper. Your reaction can range from the feeling it is unstable and upsetting to finding it stimulating. There is more tension in the diagonal or oblique direction than in any other direction. Now draw a vertical line in the center of a piece of paper. On a third piece of paper, draw a horizontal line. Try to see these lines in the forms around you. Take a few minutes to see oblique, vertical, and horizontal lines.

Curved Lines - curves can be drawn either with mathematical precision or freehand, the mathematical drawn with a compass is thought to be harder, lacking the grace and subtlety of the freehand. Curves suggest feminity.

All forms comprise three basic shapes - the square, the circle and the equilateral triangle; and they are all unique in character.

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Going back to artist Irving Kriesberg's quote ("Our eye responds to assemblages of lines, colors, shapes, masses. Real objects may be seen abstractly; abstract elements may be seen as reality,") we can, by examining the lines of objects, grow more knowledgeable about what elements constitute a form and how central lines are to everything we see. When we see better we are more able to appreciate what forms, being abstract or reality, etc., are beautiful to us.

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This article is one in a series of Design Concepts, to go to the entire list, click here.

Use Scale & Proportion To More Assuredly Create Beauty

If you want to learn the hows and whys of creating beauty, it takes training, training to look at all things and to see things well. We learn and can apply design concepts and teach our mind and our eyes to discern through practice to really see.

Designers (and homeowners) are often faced with good things we like about a room, or space, but often we also have things we don't like. The room is oddly shaped; it may resemble a bowling alley (long and narrow) or the ceilings may seem too high (your furniture and items look like they are Barbie doll size) or too low (now you feel King Kong-like.) Unless you are blessed with an unlimited budget and structural changes are an option because your spouse is a general contractor, working with the space you have is the plan du jour.

Design concepts including proportion and scale will serve as handy tools in designing a functioning as well as beautiful and pleasing room.

Proportion: In design, proportion is the relationship of one part of an object to other parts or to the whole, and of one object to another. Example: if tiny, spindly legs are used to support a massive table top, we'd say that one is improperly proportioned to the other.

Scale: Scale refers to an object's size in relationship to some constant with that constant usually being but not always the human being (the primary scale relationship is to people). Scale and proportion work hand in hand. and really understanding the difference may take some thought. An example of poor scale would be a large, two story home with narrow hallways, low doorways and countertops and fixtures placed squatty. The scale here is a large house, but suitable for a child.

In learning proportion of objects and proper proportion among different objects we need to understand how they relate to each other. Are they compatible? Are the proportions linked, one to another? How are they different? By seeing the likeness of two objects, you can see what gives each its individuality. A lime is fatter, rounder, and smaller than a lemon. You can use such comparisons when you example the proportions of arms on chairs or of legs on chairs and tables. Go on a practical treasure hunt around your house, exploring the proportions of your objects and their relationship to one another. Is the saucer of a coffee cup in proportion to the cup, not too big, not too small? After some time and practice, this treasure hunt of evaluating the proportions of things can be done outdoors as well as in your friends' houses. Become a student of seeing. What you observe well will train your eye. Observe a tiny garden that is so overgrown with trees and foliage and flowers, you have no room to sit and have a cup of tea. A garden's reason for existence is a person's pleasure. No matter how beautiful something may be, if it gets out of hand and loses its human-scaled proportions, the entire purpose of its existence is defeated.

When I first visited New Mexico my eyes had an adjustment period in finding beauty in the home style - adobe construction and flat roofs with no overhang. In short time I grew to love them, especially when I realized that their form followed function, it kept the home cool in the summer, and warm in the winter, utmost importance in the desert.

However I noticed that the simplicity of the style (in the hands perhaps of non-indigenous, newcomers to the area) could easily cause attempts to add beauty - not - it often caused a beautiful form to now have bad form, or bad proportion. Architectural additions or design elements that work perfectly with other homes overpower these lovely homes. Proportion is an important element in creating, and keeping, beauty.

Proportion and scale do work hand in hand and are perhaps two sides of the same coin - and really understanding the difference may take some thought. I wish you a good 'seeing' treasure hunt.

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This article is one in a series of Design Concepts, to go to the entire list, click here.

Design Concepts: Golden Mean

Having an understanding of the Golden Mean of proportion will help you enjoy the beauty around you and help you understand how you can create that beauty in your home. We know the world is not perfect but if we can understand what the Golden Mean is - the ideal relationship of things to themselves - we're more likely to achieve real success in creating beautiful surroundings.

Since Renaissance times, the Golden Mean as well as the Golden Rectangle have been extensively used in art and architecture.

Not just artists and architects have been fascinated by the Golden Mean, but mathematicians (and more recently, readers of "The Da Vinci Code,) have been fascinated by mathematical proportions and the Golden Mean. It's the basis of much of the artwork of Leonardo Da Vinci and Michelangelo. The Greeks' Golden Rectangle and Golden Mean are therefore excellent guides for anyone interested in decorating.

Today for architects and designers, the Golden Mean has become a standard proportion used:

• in facades of buildings,
• in first story to second story proportion,
• in the dimensions of paintings and picture frames,
• in planning a room or elevating a wall and the sizes of the windows or the spaces between or above or below.
  

  ---

  
  Definition of Golden Mean:is a formula for dividing a line at between 2/3 and 1/2 its length. This formula is believed to result in the segments being satisfactory proportions, believed to be pleasing to the human being.
  
  

  ---

  
  
  Definition Of The Golden Rectangle: is any rectangle in which the ratio of the short side to the long side is 3 to 5 or of course any extensions of this ratio such as 4 x 6, 6 x 9, etc.
  

  

  
  Example of Golden Rectangle in an area rug, a typical interior decor item:
  

  

  This Ocean Corsaro area rug from Gumps San Francisco measures 4' x 6', it is an example of the golden rectangle.
  
  Determining the Golden Rectangle: Let's say you are considering adding on a room addition and your available area is 18' in width and plenty of land, what should be the length of your room? Divide the 18' by 2 and arrive at 9'. Add the 9' to the 18' and you have 27'. Therefore the dimensions of your new room should be 18' x 27'.
  
  When you know good proportion, you can see why an area rug is so satisfying and why a long hall gives you claustrophobia.
  
• 
  

  Interior designers have ways to correct flawed proportions in many instances. The hallway shown in the above photograph has been architecturally corrected by the beautiful archways. If you have a long narrow hallway, a less expensive idea is to place a mirror at the end of the hall to bring in light and visually widen the space. You can either hang a traditional mirror in a frame or mirror the whole wall from cornice to baseboard.
  

• ---

  
  

  
  

  The Design Concept Series endeavors to help you bring more beauty and harmony into your home by helping you learn to see better and by helping you to know how to incorporate important design principles

  
  

  *** Art Objects Are Alive With Energy

  *** Balance - Achieving It In Designing Rooms

  *** Lines As Forms

  *** Rhythm - Its Good For Dance & Room Design

  *** Scale & Proportion - Helps You More Assuredly Create Beauty
  
  

Design Concepts Series

My desire is to help you create beautiful rooms and not only that but that you learn how to create rooms that are beautiful for you. Following are a series of articles that you may use to help you learn about interior design concepts, so important in creating beautiful rooms.

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Art Objects Make Room Come Alive
Balance - Home Improvement Design Concepts (Balance)
Lines As Forms Design Concepts
Rhythm In Designing A Room - Design Concepts
Scale & Proportion To More Assuredly Create Beauty - Design Concepts

Design Concept Symmetry And Asymmetry

(Article Continued) Strict symmetry, where things are too matchy-matchy, can seem cold, even redundant. We can tend to just walk by things, ignoring them for their same-same.
It can be good to establish symmetry as a framework, but add some relief and variety from it, but within it.
Asymmetry is technically the lack of symmetry but we can use visual weight (creating the illusion of symmetry) to equal the equilibrium our eye seeks. To further explain: again, in the picture above, the bottom fireplace mantel if we remember our imaginary vertical dividing line, the two halves of this composition have different forms and are technically dispersed unevenly - they are not mirrors of each other. Designers create illusions of symmetry by using objects with similar rhythm, pattern and shape. Designers create optical equality, it feels balanced and symmetrical to the eye. The desired end result is always about the visual experience, that the eye feels pleased.

Check Out These Other Design Concepts Articles:*** Art Objects Are Alive With Energy *** Balance - Achieving It In Designing Rooms *** Lines As Forms *** Rhythm - Its Good For Dance & Room Design *** Scale & Proportion - Helps You More Assuredly Create Beauty