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ABSTRACT LINES228 Being "Just"

A SENSE OF "JUST" (or rightness) is a difficult concept to a Gardener, the late garden designer Russell Page explains, "I
explain, but an easy one to understand. W h e n moving have experimented endlessly with this idea. Take, for instance,
objects around in your yard, or home, or on a page, there is a glass, a b u n c h of keys, and an apple, and put them on a tray,
a clear feeling when, after being continuously adjusted, they As you move them around, their impact, the impression you
reach a perfect position. There is a single moment when all receive from them, will change with every rearrangement,
proportions, angles, and elements settle in definitive balance. Many of their inter-relationships will be meaningless, some
This balance is what every artist and designer searches and will be more or less harmonious, but every now and again
feels for when making an image. In his b o o k The Education of you will hit on an arrangement which appears just."

SETTING UP

Justness can be harmonious or deliberately discordant. It is found in
all great art and design, regardless of style, culture, media, or degree
of figuration. It is also found in nature. Seek it when looking at other
artists' work and in your everyday environment. Feel for it when
youdraw.Thisexercise will help you start. Set up a sheet of paper
with a rectangle drawn on it, and ten straight sticks painted black.

"Whenall pictorial elements come together in
pleasing and perfect balance, they are just."