A PowerPoint presentation talking about Variety as a Principle of Art and design. It explains how variety is achieved in several examples of artworks.

1. P R I N C IPL E O F A RT :
R I tY
by
Bernard E. Richardson
Master Teacher|Visual Arts Educator|2022

2. What is Variety?
 VARIETY is the use of several elements of art and design in various
ways to create art work and to capture the viewer’s attention.
VARIETY
Lines
Textures
Colours
Shapes
Forms
Values

3.  Variety is accomplished by using different lines, shapes, colours and texture within a
composition (art work) to make key areas stand out or to add visual interest.
Wassily Kandinsky
Soft Hard
Oil in Canvas
1927

4. Some examples of Variety
 Variety is accomplished by using
the same element which is shape
(Circles) but different colours.
 Variety is accomplished by using
the same element which is shape
(Circles) but in different sizes.
Variety of the same shape in a variety of
sizes.
Variety of the same shape in a variety of
colours.

5. This art work shows variety using mainly three elements.
A variety of lines (diagonal, vertical, horizontal and curved) are used to create a variety of
shapes ( geometric – circle, semi circle, triangle, rectangle etc.) which are then filled with a
variety of brilliant colours to form an abstract portrait which is interesting and pleasing to
look at.
Art work showing Variety

6. This art work is an excellent example showing colour as variety. If you look closely you will
notice the different colours that exist – blues, purples, greens, oranges, reds and yellows.
Claude Monet
Hay Stacks
Oil in Canvas, 60cm x 100cm
1891
Art work showing Variety

7. This art work shows variety through the use of all the different colours (yellow, orange, red,
green and browns) in the landscape, the lines (vertical, curved, diagonal shown in the trunk
and branches of the trees), shapes and texture used to create the foliage of the trees.
Tom Thomson
Opulent October, Winter
Oil in Canvas, 54cm x 77.3cm
1915
Art work showing Variety

8. Image Courtesies
 https://lavelart.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Soft-Hard-by-Wassily-Kandinsky.jpg
 https://i.ytimg.com/vi/BWCeV91BDJg/mqdefault.jpg
 https://drawpaintacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Tom-Thomson-Opulent-October-Winter-
1915-16.jpg.webp
 https://drawpaintacademy.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/CLaude-Monet-Grainstacks-
1891.jpg.webp
References
 Scott, Dan (2019). Variety in art. Draw Paint Academy Pty Ltd. [Online] Available:
https://drawpaintacademy.com/variety/ (3rd December, 2022

9. The End