Going through the list of elements of Design, the three mentioned above are next.

Form can also be said "shape". It's good to think of it using that word, because, other than describing the way form is being used here, it also is easier to relate to a common concept when working with Form, that is, the notion of positive and negative shape. All forms have their positive and negative shapes, the shape they are and the shape they make of the background behind them. A good artist uses both these types of shapes consciously when making a successful composition. Positive and negative spaces are often formed by the use of contrast, light against dark or color against color (remember color is not a single thing but a combination of elements).

Texture is the sculptural aspect of painting and the painterly aspect of sculpture, or at least one can think of it that way. Texture in a painting is most useful in producing depth. The relief (high and low areas) of heavy application of paint (called " impasto") can be very effective in making an area come forward in a painting. The actual texture as well as color of items can be also duplicated in their painting. A sculpture's surface can be textured and in this can allow the piece to say more than just its Form can say alone. Texture in this case is a relatively two-dimensional effect compared to the overall three dimensionality of the total sculpture making it a bit painterly in nature.

Ah, Rhythm. It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing. All elements of a painting, as said before, are tools the artist has to use in order to capture your interest and keep it moving through the composition. This movement is more exciting if Rhythm is involved. Rhythm can be boring and repetitious if not altered. One of my professors was fond of repeating the phrase "repetition with variation". Successful rhythms are most often just that, little things that one finds happening in a piece over and over, but with pleasing changes and variations. These rhythms, such as the patterns that leaves (in their positive and negative shapes) make on the sky, can set the theme of a work, or be it entirely, as Jackson Pollock taught us.

Steve B. Lance