Black and White: Bars with Some Curves

Bars with some curves. Shadowy figures with hands gripping rails,  lend intrigue to the monochromatic image with its flat planes and simple shapes.

With limited tones, the need for more dramatic shapes and textures to tell a story and create some type of interest has intensified.

The horizontal lines, paired with diagonals help to do that.   Five smaller  horizontal lines give a balance to the design, which also serve to ‘anchor’ the image.  Usually I try to include in my artworks all three types of lines.  (Verticals, Diagonals, Horizontals.)

Within the lines themselves, there is a good range of tones: dark, midtones  and lighter tones.

I did give the upper midtone area a slight tint of warmth to prevent a complete feeling of coldness.

Velvet deep blackness with stark abrupt white petals creates an almost confronting design.

There is an implied diagonal line swinging from the upper right flowers through the centre down to the lower left, with a slight hook up. This image has plenty of curves, verticals and diagonals to create an interesting design.

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The overall design, therefore is much less static, than if the main flower was right exactly in the middle of the image with no leadins, no directional lines, and no tonal variations in the background and middle ground areas.