Maddie+Dufrane

My name is Madeline Dufrane, but everyone calls me Maddie. I am a sophomore and I plan to be a Biology and Psychology major (currently, I am undeclared). I shoot photography on the side, and I love working with the Adobe programs, like Lightroom, Photoshop, InDesign, etc (but that is about the extent of my artistic ability).


 * Gestalt Principles**

Similarity This is a picture of my friend's horses at her farm. I chose this picture as similarity because instead of seeing five horses, I see a herd of horses. Each horse has distinct markings, allowing them to stand out and catch your attention, but they are still all together.

Proximity This is an image of some gravel at a baseball field. I chose this picture as proximity because if it were a picture of several pebbles spaced apart, the effect would not be the same. The mass of pebbles and their location relative to the other pebbles is what allows us to see this as gravel rather than rocks.

Figure/Ground This is a photo of my favorite candle at home. The focus allows us to easily distinguish the difference between the candle and the background.

Continuation This is a picture I took several weeks ago at a Hot Air Balloon Festival in Bealeton, Virginia. I took a photo for this assignment, but I liked this picture much better, so I decided to use it. The lines in the hot air balloon catch people's attention and lead your eyes from the top of the balloon to the basket at the bottom. The shape of the balloon also leads your eyes from the top to the bottom.

Closure This is another picture that I took at the Hot Air Balloon Festival. I again picked this photo rather than the one I took for the assignment because I liked it so much better. While the shape of the balloon is not completed in the picture, it is still apparent that the object is a hot air balloon.


 * Color Schemes**

Monochromatic This is Monochromatic because the sky is varying shades of a blue grey

Monochromatic This is Monochromatic because the water and rocks are all varying shades of brown

Analogous The flower arrangement shows an analogous color scheme because there are red-violet, violet, and blue-violet flowers.

Analogous The butterfly and the plant behind the butterfly show an analogous color scheme using a darker green, a lighter green, and yellow.

Complementary The red flower complements the green leaves, and shows a complementary color scheme.

Complementary This shows a complementary color scheme, contrasting the blue of the sky against the golden tones of the clouds.

Split Complementary This flower arrangement shows a split complementary color scheme, the violet complements the green and yellow.

Split Complementary This shows a split complementary color scheme, contrasting the pink of the clouds on the left and the blue of the sky against the orange tones in the cloud on the right.

Essay

Hot Mix by Reni Gower I found the work of art, Hot Mix, by Reni Gower, very interesting. It immediately caught my attention when I walked into the Ridderhof Martin Gallery, most likely because the colors used by the artist are eye catching and very forceful, but the painting feels passionate. It is an acrylic painting done on multiple materials, which gives the painting a very three-dimensional feel. There are at least four easily distinguishable layers of materials. In addition to varying the material painted on, the artist also changes the paint pattern, mainly between lines and circles. There isn’t a color scheme, but I think it adds to the organized chaos created by the artist. I don’t think the painting would have had the same impact on me without the layers, colors, and patterns. The background layer exhibits continuation of the lines under the circle layers, while the circle layers represent similarity and proximity. There is good variation between the colors that are used, most are intense, but I think that is the intention of the artist, to show more emotion. To me, the intensity of the colors shows that something is unresolved; it feels like the artist is angry or upset about something. After reading the blurb written by the artist, I definitely still agree that the painting shows plenty of emotion, Hot Mix is dedicated to her brother who passed away, which explains why the painting seems distressed and unsettled.

Sketches Gesture 1 Gesture 2 Gesture 3

Gesture 4 Gesture 5 Contour 1 Contour 2 Contour 3 Contour 4 Contour 5