In music, an interval is the time lapse between two notes. Collected together in a pattern, those intervals create a specific rhythm. Intervals in paintings are not much different—they’re simply the distance of a space between two edges. Several of these visual intervals assembled together in one painting
create a visual rhythm, just like several musical notes grouped together produce an audible rhythm. WHERE INTERVALS ARE FOUND For artists, the intervals that make up visual rhythms can be a delight to discover and capture. Rhythm-producing
intervals appear in three specific relationships: Between a shape’s edge and the outer edge of a painting Between two shapes inside the painting Within a single shape itself. We read the direction of intervals as parallel with the direction of the painting surface's edges, so what we are looking for is the size of the horizontal and vertical spacings. Here are two images of a
painting by Karen Jurick, I've diagrammed the major horizontal intervals in the top one, and the major vertical's in the one underneath it. In both the length of the line shows the size of the interval. Arrow lines show variation is sizes of horizontal spaced intervals in Karen Jurick's Lounge Act Arrow lines show variation is sizes of vertical space intervals in Karen Jurick's Lounge Act It would be fun to spend a day just looking for intervals. From where you are sitting (for example), notice the size of the horizontal intervals from edge to edge within shapes. Compare those with the size of the intervals between shapes. Keep making this observation throughout the
day, wherever you find yourself. If we spend a single day just looking for these specifics, the activity itself will go a long way towards training your eye to see like a master painter. Enjoy a delightful weekend of discovering intervals! During my Language of Painting series, I explained the role of our visual elements. If you'd like to review those roles to better understand the behavior of elements, here are the links to each of those
discussions: Color --Value -- Shape -- Texture -- Size -- Line and Direction
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