Princples of Design

         The work that I looked at was called "the Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" and it was created by Grant Wood. In this painting the artist used a number of the principle's of designs in order to enhance the meaning rather than detract from the artists idea. It is clear that the principles of design were used with much consideration because they really are woven in well with the picture. It appeared to me that the artist didn't make an effort to use too much balance because the weight of the painting doesn't look even on both sides to me. I did however observe asymmetry by including the church only on one side and the forest on the other. These things didn't balance each other out and even though he is very small, having Paul Revere on the left side of the painting added the most asymmetrical feeling in my opinion. Grant wood also did a great job of putting emphasis on the landscape and background but not Paul revere himself. In researching i did read that when painting the picture wood focused on the scenery and not the character but i could visualize it better with the contrast of how detailed and colorful everything was. except Revere. Wood did a good job of showing the movement and creating a sense of rush that Paul revere experienced by drawing the horse in mid-stride with the legs out-reached to show the implied movement of Revere and his horse. The long winding road that stretched from one end of the painting to the other was a form of ledaing lines which also shows movement by showing action and events outside the painting s well as on the canvas. Last but not least Wood's use of proportion was in fact my favorite out of all his uses of POD in this picture. i find it clever and funny that woods painting was titled after such a minuscule aspect/part of is painting. I also like how the proportions of the scenery:character reflect woods's interest in what he was painting.