Your eyes are genius. You knew everything you ever needed to know about art, design and composition by the time you were three. Well, seven anyway.
Allow me to illustrate. You’ve experienced this before. Your in the store and you ask the nearest clerk where you can find the Fluff N’ Stuff laundry soap. When the clerk turns to help you out, you immediately notice she has a huge mole on her forehead. And if that’s not bad enough it just happens to have two long black hairs sticking out of it!
Now if it weren’t for that huge hairy mole you might have noticed that she is actually kind of cute. But at this point, you can’t get past the mole, let alone pay attention to anything she says. No matter how hard you try, your eyes insistently zero in on that mole as if they were possessed.
It’s not your fault! Your eyes are doing exactly what thousands of years of evolution have trained them to do. They are master at discerning differences in things. From the minute to the obvious. Slight changes in the landscape, tell tale differences in the in the brush that lines the trail. It all harkens back to our ‘eat or be eaten’ caveman days. When something doesn’t fit in to the landscape, your eyes will notice it!
Now let’s take this illustration a step further. Let’s say you spot a bathing suit model in a magazine. Let’s make it a male model. Water is dripping off his wet hair. It’s running down his smooth sun bronzed skin. He’s got rippling muscles in all the right places, strong well proportioned limbs, a masculine jaw line and sparkly sexy eyes…oh yea! Notice how your eyes joyously dance about from one perfect body part to the next. Happily drinking in every luscious detail.
Again your eyes seem to have a life of their own. They certainly don’t wish to be torn away from such a sight! Unlike the mole, they are not focused on any one thing in particular. In fact you would be hard pressed to pick just one favorite feature on this well balanced model. Your eyes are appreciating the whole package. Your eyes are roaming. And loving every minute of it!
Hello? Stay with me here, remember were still talking about art!
Now let’s put a little spin on things, shall we? Let’s put the big, two haired mole on our model’s forehead. Remember, this isn’t a cute little Marylyn Monroe mole. This is a huge misshapenly thing with two long black hairs sticking out of it… That changes things a bit doesn’t it?
Ok. The guy is still terribly sexy, but no matter how hard you try, your eyes keep going back to that mole. It goes something like this: six-pack abs, mole, broad chest, mole, hunky shoulders, mole, sparkly sexy eyes, mole…Awkward isn’t it?
By this time I bet you are wondering what in the world has any of this got to do with paintings, design and art! Only Everything! Let me explain.
The whole point of this mole & model scenario is to help you understand patterns in eye movement. Happy eyes dart from here to there in a pleasurable relaxed manner. Eyes that have spotted an ‘interruption in flow’ will keep returning to the discrepancy. I repeat. Eyes that have spotted an ‘interruption in flow’ will keep returning to the discrepancy.
Now for some practical application.
You can look at any piece of art work; abstract, realistic, modern, whatever and know immediately if its ‘good’ or not. You’ll know because of your eye movement. Are your eyes roaming happily or do they keep getting distracted by some discrepancy? Do your eyes keep finding the mole?
How do you know if design is good? Same thing. Pay attention to your eye movement. Do your eyes happily roam from one tantalizing feature to the next (like an ad in a designer magazine) or do they get bogged down in an interruption of flow? Great design and great art irresistibly draw your eyes in. You can’t help but look. It is ‘happy’ eye candy!
One thing I must mention before you go. About the cute clerk with the mole. If she were your friend, eventually you would learn to look past the mole. And so it is with our homes. We train our eyes not to see. We look past the unsightly stack of magazines on the bathroom floor. We learn to ignore the couch that’s placed in an awkward spot.
Reclaim your genius! Take a look at your place with a fresh eye (pun intended) and pay attention to what your eyes are telling you. Stop ignoring the mole! Just have it removed already. Balance it out with good design and great art so everyone can appreciate how cute and attractive your place really is. Let your eyes be your guide. Your eyes are genius!
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Wild Mustang Water Bottle by CathysFineArtShop
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