Finding Balance on the Red Wall

I know, I know... I teased you with this picture and now I've moved on.

Well, one simple reason.

I can't find the one thing that I really, really want to put on the empty side of the dresser.

So, I'm moving on for now... well, moving to a different wall in the living room, not a new concept.

Here is a portion of the back wall of my living room.  I love the vibrant red, contrasting with the white trim and ceiling with the brown beams.  It's fun and appeals to me. 

I think it is so important to create places that appeal to you.  Who cares if it is designer, or in fashion, if it makes you smile or feel good, go with it.

However, I do think you should know at least a little bit about why you like something!  No worries, I won't go into a big long lesson ..well, I'll try not too :) , but I will break down the above picture for you. If you want to know more about balance, simply do a google search on balance as a principle of design and you will find tons of stuff!

Okay for the quick teaching.. You see, there are 3 kinds of balance. Symmetrical, Asymmetrical and Radial.  Most of us know symmetrical or formal balance.  That's where you can cut something in half and you get an equal amount on each side.. ie the human body.  Asymmetrical is where you can't cut it in half and get equal parts and radial is circular, like spokes on a wheel.  Get it? Got it?  Good! See, easy!

In the below picture, I've super-imposed a grid on top of the picture.  Yes, like grids.  Shocking, I use visuals to teach :)  So in the grid you can see that the bookshelf, the dominat object on the wall is in symmetrical balance with the pictures.  This makes for a nice grounded space.  While some of us like things willy-nilly, we don't want EVERYTHING to be chaotic!

However, to break up the symmetry, I have a plant on top of the bookshelf that is much larger than the little bike that is sitting there with it.  The bike is a seemingly afterthought. (There are lots of teaching terms that I could insert here, but I won't!) Then in the bottom quadrant, the chair sits.  If I had a chair to balance on the other side, it would be too planned and BORING! Even on a red wall.  Instead, the lone chair throws off the symmetry just enough to be interesting.  Also, the solid color, one tone chair isn't distracting in a "look at me" way so the whole thing just feels good.

And that's it. 

Balance is simply the arranging of things (objects, pictures, paint, etc..) so that no one part of a work overpowers, or seems heavier than any other part. But remember, balance doesn't have to be boring. And look, I'm leaving the correlation of life and art to you this time!