Want an example? Check out a design principle called the “Golden Ratio”. Also known as the Golden Section, Golden Mean, Divine Proportion or Greek letter Phi.  

It is a ratio between two numbers that equals approximately 1.618. Usually written as the Greek letter phi, it is strongly associated with the Fibonacci sequence, a series of numbers wherein each number is added to the last.  To simply put, The Golden Ratio can be written as a mathematical equation of A ÷ B = (A + B) ÷ A = 1.61803398875. In a short form ratio, it is 1:1.618.

If used in design, the golden ratio can be expressed as when a line is divided into two parts and the longer part (a) divided by the smaller part (b) is equal to the sum of (a) + (b) divided by (a), which both equal 1.618.

Before you start running away thinking that you clicked opened a post about math by accident, check this image out–this is a shell I collected on the beach. It shows the perfect golden rule design by nature. 

And how does this golden rule apply to art?  A lot.  

Golden rule has been used by artists and architects throughout the centuries: from the Pyramids in Giza to the Parthenon in Athens; from Michelangelo’s The Creation of Adam on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel to Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa; and many contemporary artists too.  You must have seen this famous painting before: 

Piet Mondrian, Compositions in Red, Blue, and Yellow, 1930 

Piet Mondrian basically used a golden rectangle to design this painting.

In a golden rectangle, the side lengths are in golden ratio. If you take away that square on the left, another rectangle will remain which is also in golden ratio. You can make this design indefinitely.  

And when you spiral a line through the golden rectangle,  you will get the Golden Spiral effect, just like the shell I just showed you.

What is The Rule of Thirds?

You probably heard about The Rule of Thirds in painting and photographing. So what is the relationship between The rule of Thirds and The Golden Ratio?

The rule of thirds is a guideline for both artists and photographers. It says that if you divide your composition into thirds, either vertically or horizontally, and then place focal areas of your scene at the meeting points of them, you will get a more pleasing arrangement and layout for your compositions.

Below is my painting of Sanibel Lighthouse in Sanibel Island, FL. You can see the focal parts of lighthouse, the roof of the house and the edge of the beach landed on the cross section of those lines. 

So what The Rule of Thirds has to do with The Golden Ratio?

The Rule of Thirds is basically a simplification of the Golden Rule. While its ratio doesn’t equate exactly to that of 1:1.618. But it will give you roughly the same desired effect but is very easy to envision and implement compared to the Golden Ratio.

You see, our mind is created to enjoy interesting designs and variation in spaces.  

Our eyes and brains dislike boring, dead in the center designs or a too busy and messy canvas. 

With the guide of golden ratio, you can create variation and blank space that pleases the eye, and guide the eyes to travel though the canvas, so to provide an enjoyable art experience. 

Of course, you don’t have to rigidly follow the rule of third in your composition. But it should be an important tool in your artist arsenal.  

If you found my post is helpful, click the social media button to hare this post. 

Or leave a comment below about your take away from this post! 

Cheering you on!  

Ying

The post How to use Golden Ratio / Rule of Thirds in your art appeared first on Ying McLane.

After I finished that section and lifted up the tape, I discovered some brown paint had seeped through underneath the tape. Now I had an unsightly mess to clean up.

But suddenly I had an idea, how about turning this brown blob into a sailboat? There is no boat in my reference photo, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea, right?

I dipped a small brush into some white paint, did several loose strokes, and now I had a little white boat sailing on the blue ocean of Fort Myers’ beach!

I am sharing this little story because I want to encourage you—making mistakes is part of normal life in creating something beautiful. Don’t be frustrated when that happens, you will never know what you can do with it using your creativity!

Check out the painting and my little magical sail boat

What do you think?

By the way, If you haven’t joined my FB community, click here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1437940910025060,

Also follow my IG account here for more inspirations. Click here: https://www.instagram.com/yingmclane/

I regularly post my painting tips and processes on those accounts, so be sure to check them out!

Happy painting!

Ying

The post <strong>How I turned a mistake into a little magic</strong> appeared first on Ying McLane.

The general rule is– the position of the sun in relationship with the clouds determines where the light and dark parts of the shadows are.  

In most cases, the sun will be above the clouds. 

So Imagine holding a cotton ball under a light. You want to paint three parts of this cotton ball:

1: the top part where the sunlight hits the cotton ball. It’s the lightest part of the ball. 

2: the middle part, the main body of the cotton ball.  It will be a middle tone.

3: the bottom part of the ball, where it is the darkest. 

If you paint a sunset, as I did in this painting of Fort Myers Pier in Florida,  the sunlight will hit the middle or lower part of the clouds. So the lower parts of the clouds will appear light in color, and the upper parts will be darker in color. You can also add some thin lines of bright color around the lower edges to show where the sunlight hit the clouds.

Remember: you are painting big shapes and values. Don’t try to paint every little detail you see. Or it will take away the overall feeling or mood you are trying to express in your painting.  

Happy painting!  

To learn more about the background of this painting, go to https://yingmclane.com/our-hurricane-ian-story-part-one/

Here is another good article about painting clouds: https://drawpaintacademy.com/clouds/#light-and-color

The post How to Paint Clouds appeared first on Ying McLane.

Hurricane Ian devastated my hometown in South West Florida. I felt led by the Spirit to do a series of paintings of the iconic landscapes in those towns for auction to benefit hurricane relief.

First, I did some google image searches. This photo of the Sanibel Island Lighthouse caught my eye. I felt my creative sparkle flying. So the following day, after dropping my children off at school, I went straight to my studio and started painting. 

Here is my painting process:

1 I used the direct painting method. That is, I drew an outline putting down the basic placements of the elements, then I painted directly on the canvas.

I chose the 30 inches by 40 inches canvas because I felt only a larger-sized ground could express the breathtaking beauty of the lighthouse and the island.

2 I picked out several shades of blue. I put down a thin layer of the blue sky first, then worked my way down to the house and beach scene. 

3 After the first acrylic base coat of the background sky dried (acrylic paints dry fast), I put down the second layer with more attention to detail. 

4 Using a ruler, I painted the lighthouse”s metal structure. I made sure the perspective was accurate. 

5 Time to paint the foreground, and that’s the fun part. I love using loose strokes to paint the sand, grasses, and palm tree leaves. The process was exhilarating!

6 The last layer added highlights, like the orange sunlight on the clouds, with oil paint. Oil paint is more saturated and intense than acrylic paint, so it is perfect for doing those highlights in this painting. 

I finished the whole painting just in time to pick my children up from school.  Sometimes with the right frame of mind plus a little luck, you will get the best workflow in your creative process. 

If you need some help with landscape painting, try my free tool — grid and greyscale, on my website.  It will help you with composition and finding the accurate value of your reference photo.

Just click here https://yingmclane.com/image-converter/

See you soon!

Ying

www.yingmclane.com

The post How I Painted This Big Canvas in One Day appeared first on Ying McLane.