I was playing with foreground/background in this little study. Typically, artists use visual cues to enhance the feeling of depth in a landscape. For example, an artist would paint the blue of the sky fainter (or less saturated) as he or she approached the horizon; s/he would paint a mountain in the distance with a bluish cast. On the other hand warmer colors would be used for subjects closer to the foreground.  Hans Hoffmann, an Abstract Expressionist of the early to mid 20th century had a theory (the ‘push/pull’ theory) that posited that different colors in close proximity to each other (not associated with objects in a landscape) could, in and of themselves indicate distance. In other words, colors in combination, on a flat surface, set up an illusion of spatial distance between the patches.

I was hoping that my combination of colors would make the circular patterns below seem to project toward the viewer, reading the painting from left to right.

Abstract – Circular Pattern
12″x9″ 140# Cold Pressed Watercolor Block