In the above painting, Summer by the Sea, the visual flow is evident. To explain this better, Visual flow is the natural way your eye will move through an image, in this case the above painting. This compositions has obvious elements that direct your eye like the flowers to the beach; to the flowers then to the sky and back to the flowers. Other compositions create visual flow with receding layers, successive points of interest, leading lines and other similar concepts. Some of our other paintings do this as well.
How to recognise Visual Flow?
Visual Flow in an image or painting will become obvious to you. If your eye leads you to no particular part of the scene in front of you, then it has no visual flow. A well composed painting and by that I mean one that has been planned and thought about, will have visual flow. There will be a centre of interest that the artist wants you to see. Also, there will be a layout to the painting that should lead your eye to that centre of interest. It maybe a path or fence line or a more subtle difference in shading that make your eyes follow until you see the main object.
Too many paintings have no focus – just a bland display with no centre of interest so that the eye does not know where to look. No visual flow. For centuries the great artists were aware of the need for visual flow. their compositions, especially in landscape paintings always had visual flow. Within abstract art it seems to be more difficult to achieve this visual flow. The imagination of the viewer is often stretched to see each element painted to provide the message intended. Visual flow is wrapped up not only in the shapes painted but also within the choice of colours.
Colour and Visual Flow
If we look at the painting above, the dominant colour is blue. Blue is a colour that symbolises trust, calm and peacefulness. The non dominant colour is green. Green is associated with nature, health and well being. The centre of interest or accent colours are yellow and red. Warm colours that are happy and loving colours to cheer the viewer when they see the painting. All of this is visible when looking at the painting using visual flow.