This unfinished composition on Masonite offers a glimpse of my painting process. The work was begun before I began my Neuroscience and Art book, which was published in 2024. This piece was set aside during the writing process and still awaits completion.
Circles—shapes associated with harmony and balance—form a central element of my visual vocabulary. While not the case here, at least not in this point of the image’s creation, in many of my works circles appear alongside ellipses. This is unsurprising given that an ellipse can be described as an elongated circle. In other words, the ellipse shape generalizes a circle, which is a special case of an ellipse.
When circles or ellipses are mixed or used separately, these kinds of shapes aid in creating spatial dynamics. They aid in developing compositional fluency because of how variations in size, color, and line width serve as tools in creating musicality. In other words, when composed successfully, these kinds of elements interact like musical notes: the sizes, shapes, and colors play off one another and the overall visual language engages visual perception the way music engages hearing.
As a work exploring perceptual experience, spatial dynamics, and color, this painting should eventually resolve in a manner that deepens a sense of spatial depth on the plane, enhanced by how the color relationships develop.
Amy Ione
Title: Unfinished Spiral
Medium: Oil and colored pencil on masonite
Dimensions: 24 x 18 inchesS