The element of direction can have a powerful influence on the mood of a painting. It is something often overlooked, but making a conscience decision about the dominant direction in a painting can have a noticeable effect on the atmosphere of the work.

Sometimes the subject will dictate the dominant direction. Sometimes the subject will allow you to impose a direction on it.

In this subject it is possible to impose either a horizontal, vertical or oblique dominant direction. A horizontal emphasis tends to make the buildings look sleek and clean and creates a fairly static atmosphere. A diagonal dominance reinforces the chaotic nature of the subject. Emphasizing a vertical direction maintains the random chaos, but gives a solid formal feeling to the work.

At it’s simplest, repetition means repeating a design element (color, tone, texture, line, shape, size or direction) throughout a painting. While giving a painting unity, repetition alone can also introduce monotony.

By adding variation to the repetition, unity is maintained and the work becomes more interesting.

Subtle changes from one element to another allow unity to be maintained, but make the windows much more interesting.

Always try to include variation when elements are repeated. Even small repetitive details benefit from variation.