HofA Unit One: Painting

• What is the format? (Portrait/landscape) Postioning/orientation?
• Symmetry/asymmetry
• Is there a dominant side or are elements more balanced along a central axis?
• Focal points, how are we led to them? e.g. accents of colour, contrast
• Balance/harmony/discord
• How is our eye led across the canvas?
• Mathematics- geometry, the Golden Section, rule of thirds
• Horizontal/ Vertical emphasis
• How is colour organised?
• Does the compostition create movement? How- using a curvilinear compostion (circles), moving from one side to another?
• Is cropping used to make an "open" image or is it closed?
• Juxtapostition
• Are certain shapes/forms used in a particular manner? What effect does this have? Are any elements repeated or echoed?
• Illumination/lighting?
• Subversion of rules?
• Framing?

• What hues are used? Are they saturated? Do the colours show lustre, like silk? Are the colours luminous (brighter than surrounding field)?
• Limited palette? Are prismatic colours (rainbow) used?
• Primary/secondary/tertiary 
• Complementary colours
• Are they descriptive (representive of objects)/natural/artificial/gaudy
• Warm/cool/neutral
• Shades/tints used
• Are the colours painted in blocks or blended?
• Is it used to suggest atmospheric perpective?
• How important is colour in the painting? is it more important than line? What is its relationship to light (e.g. the impressionists uesed colour as light so did not use black)
• Is it used symbolically/for mood/psychologial effect/spiritually/compositional unity/volume or weight/for decoration
• Harmony/disharmony
• Is there optical colour mixing?
• Monochrome?

• Is it a convincing sense of depth? Does the illusion of space look realistic?
• Is there a clear fore/mid/back ground (a short mid-ground can create rapidly receeding space)? Where is the focus? Does the compositional arrangement lead the viewer into the picture?
• Scaling and foreshortening?
• Is the ground plane tilted to enchance depth?
• Viewpoint- high/low, close/far, panoramic/narrow view?
• How is a sense of space achieved? Colour (warm at front, cool at back) light and shade (is it strongly contrasted, does the darkness create cavernous spaces or the light divine heavens), overlapping planes, winding paths?
• Is continuous space shown? Movement in and out of spaces? Doors leading to other places?
• Is perspective used? one-point/two-point/linear/aerial
• Tonal modelling of figures? 
• Do geometrical patterns/architectural elements show recession, e.g. the Dutch used fake marble floors to show this
• Eliptical features?
• Greater detail at the front in comparison to back
• Protruding/receeding features 

• What materials have been used?
• How have the inherent characteristics been used (e.g. transparency of water colour/quick-drying tempera that cannot be blended easily unless you hatch/oil paint's versatility)
• What is the support?
• Can you tell what tools have been used?
• What are the limits of the medium?
• Has the choice of materials determined the scale?
• How has the brushwork contributed to the overall appearance (creates movement/realism/blocked)

• Artifcial/ambient, hard/soft/diffused light
• Can you see the source? What is the directionality of the light? Are there multiple sources? Is it ambiguous?
• Does the light help model form? What effect does this have, e.g. emphasis of muscular form displays strength/prowess? Are the tonal gradations stark or soft?
• How does light and dark create space? Does it create cavernous, never-ending spaces or heavenly, divine ones?
• Are elements spotlighted? For what purpose (symbolic/narrative)?
• Does it modify colour? Consider: Deflection, reflection, absorption, refraction
• Does it emphasise texture?
• Consider silohettes and backlighting.
• Is there strong contrast? (chiaroscuro)
• Are the figures 3-D or 2-D?
• Does the light make the details clearer?
• How does it contribute to mood/atmosphere?
• What does the light/dark conceal/reveal? Why is this done and to what effect does it have?
• Do the changing intensities of light contribute to the way your eye is led across?

Can be related to light/tone

• Are the forms convincingly 3-D or is it dominated by flat shapes?
• Are they depicted as naturalistic, realistic, abstracted?
• Can the whole form be seen or it is OBLITERATED BY LIGHT or lost in shadow?
• Are the forms depicted through shading/outline/colour?
• Do the forms have soildity/mass? Do they seem weighty/sculptural?
• Has tonal modelling been used?

CONSIDER TO WHAT EFFECT EACH ELEMENT HAS ON THE OVERALL IMAGE!

• Is the image constructed through line?
• Do outlines dominate?
• Describe the qualities of the line (Straight/curvilinear/rectilinear/chaotic/clean)
• How does the line lead your eye if it is a prominent feature?
• Does the line contain colour/form?
• Are the forms 3-D/2-D?
• Are the outlines of the figures/objects naturalistic or distorted?
• Is there elongation of line and to what effect does this have?
• What is the directionality of the lines?
• Is line used to shade objects at all? e.g. cross hatching

• Is the scale of the work monumental/minature/life-size? Is it due to the materials/purposely done to make you focus on fine detail/create greater intimacy/overwhelm you/impress you/show the importance of the figure?
• Is there a hierarchical scale used? Is it for politcal/ religious purposes? Who is the most/least important?
• How is the size/scale related to meaning?

May factor into compositon.

• Is pattern an important factor in this painting? Does it show material wealth via extensive ornamentation/create a sense of order/make up the compostional structure? Is it of secondary or primary importance?
• Is pattern created with line/colour?
• Is the pattern as a result of materials/techniques/processes? Is gold leaf/gilding incorpated that has been tooled? How does this alter the quality of the image?

• Facial expression/Body language/Postitioning/posture
• What does the clothing tell us about the individual? Are they Generic/specific? Occupation?
• Depiction of gender/race, it typical/atypial
• Stylisation (Cloissonistic, divisionism, pointlism, abstracted, simplified etc.)
• Interaction between figures and the figure's gaze, how does this tell the narrative, lead the eye?
• Spatial recession/Continious space
• Symbolism/purpose of objects/animals/landmarks/props
• Light source /Weather
• Realistic/surreal
• Location: Interior/exterior, urban/rural, domestic/work environment
• Movement/actions (gestural/dynamic/static)
• Focal points
• Multi-figural?
• Scale/proportion