One of the main pillars of your personal growth journey is your home. Our surroundings influence our thoughts & approach to life. Bring positive energy into your home to feel rejuvenated, relaxed & inspired. Click to read how to do it easily & effectively. #positivity #self-improvement #bringPositiveEnergy #happiness #growthmindset
Health and beauty are inextricably intertwined, be it of the body or mind. Feeling full of sunshine makes you feel beautiful and that attitude of self-assurance and confidence mirrors in how you look. The age-old adage “a healthy body houses a healthy mind” truly holds true when it comes to looking good because make-up can do only that much for you. The little something that lures the eyes and brings forth the “wow”, trickles from your feeling good about yourself. Now you may well ask, “That’s all fine, but where does water come in all of this?” Let me just say, that approximately 60% of human body is aqua. So, it goes to show how much this life sustaining fluid is important for maintaining our body as it is meant to be. However, I have a few handy tips listed here for you to look your gorgeous self using water in some very interesting ways. 10 Healthy Beauty Hacks Using Water Water and Hugs – Work Best When Warm: Shedding those extra pounds with warm water is easier, as it will increase your metabolic rate to burn calories faster. The best habit you can develop is having a glass of warm water first thing in the morning. Not only will it wake you up gently yet properly, but will also provide a good jump start for your internal organs. The result, better heart health for your morning jog and exercise routine, healthy tummy with better digestion and “regular motions”. The baseline – an overall smooth functioning machinery to keep you smoothly on the go. Drinking warm H2O is also one of the best natural cures for stomach cramps and muscle spasms. A glass of warm water every morning keeps common cold at bay and if you actually do catch cold, it will be remarkably less severe. I personally like this trick the best because there is nothing like a bad cold. It make you feel as if the end of world is just round the corner, however silly it may feel later on. “The easiest health routine to adopt is having a glass of warm water first thing in the morning.” (click to Tweet) Detox to Get that Blushing Glow: Routinely detoxifying your body will not only keep serious health issues and pesky skin problems at bay but would also give you an enviously glowing complexion. These 5-minute recipes are quick and super easy and are great detox routines. Take a bottle full of sparkling water that you can carry around with you throughout the day. Add to it any one of the following delectable combinations that fancy your palate. A few slices of apple with an inch of cinnamon stick. A couple of sliced strawberry, an inch of ginger with a few mint sprigs. 5-6 slices of cucumber with rosemary, thyme or mint. A few slices of cilantro would also work as an anti-cholesterol agent along with giving you a healthy dose of vitamin C. Blackberry and a few mint leaves would lower cholesterol and help in digestion. Put a few slices of lemon in with either cucumber, raspberries or orange. Kiwi slices with basil would give you vitamin K, vitamin C, copper and fiber boost. Now simply sip your way to a detoxified healthy body, glowing skin and sparkling eyes. Detox Body from Outside: Let’s take a sheet out of the famous bathhouses of Rome. The basic idea – opening up the pores with hot steam to detox through one of the biggest organs of our body, skin, followed by cold water plunges to close the pores up for silky glowing skin. You don’t need a sauna at home to detox your way to gorgeousness. A simple steaming hot towel wrap for 10-20 minutes followed immediately by cold shower can do the trick with much less hassle and expense. Another way to detox is mixing 1 cup of apple cider vinegar in 1 liter of hot water. Dip your feet in for 20-30 minutes and relax your way to more energy, better health and minty fresh looks. Apple cider vinegar has loads of goodness and I would love to share those with you in my next post (after this water series), so look out! Water for Gorgeous Hair: Water makes up for approximately 1/4th weight of a hair strand. So drinking more water and staying hydrated not only helps keep them healthy and glossy but also keeps the scalp dandruff-free for better hair root support. Cold water rinses also help the shine factor by constricting hair cuticles. Ocean water with red algae and sea lettuce strengthens and adds much-valued moisture to your hair. A simple trick is mixing essential oils with distilled water to be used as leave-on hair serum. Additionally, you can even mix one part of your regular conditioner with three parts of water in a spray bottle and use it as leave-on conditioner to control frizz. Dry and brittle hair slow down growth rate, so keep them hydrated along with good hair cuticle care for long luscious locks. Eyes: Water is the best way to care for your peepers. Splash cold water or rose water to get the sparkling naughtiness back in them after a tiring day. Eye puffiness after staring long hours at the computer monitor can be vamoosed with cold water splashes followed by cold tea bag compression. For longer-lasting effect, you can also go for water-rich under-eye gels. Also, it is easy to revive your favorite mascara with a few drops of saline water. Gorgeous Skin: For a well-rounded action plan to get Cleopatra-worthy skin, adopt an easily followed schedule of A glass of warm water in the morning. Replace caffeine and soda drinks with green teas. One bottle of detox aqua mix sipped throughout the day. Just put slices of cucumber, ginger, lemon and a few mint sprigs to a bottle of water. Let it sit overnight and sip it throughout the next day. Or, you can use
Staying well-hydrated is the key to fending off loads of ailments. Staying in shipshape is just an added benefit for enjoying life to the hilt. We have already seen how water can work hard to keep you looking pristinely gorgeous. If you missed that, here’s where you can check it out. Now let’s explore how hydration can make you feel good and keep you out of the doctor’s office. How much hydration you actually need every day depends on your age, health, sex, tendency to sweat and your routine. So, it is a good idea to consult a nutritionist or general physician before increasing your fluid intake. I know it sounds weird, visiting a doctor to stay out of a doctor’s office, but it’s really spending a bit now to save a lot in the future. Let’s check out some of the benefits of staying properly hydrated. Medical Benefits of Hydration Before bed: Drink a glass of water, say half an hour before going to bed. The half hour is to give you time and avoid midnight trips to the bathroom. Proper hydration helps your heart work smoothly and put less stress on heart muscles – one of the best ways of limiting stroke and heart attack potential. Our body has a very intelligent mechanism. In case of mal-hydration, the body produces more cholesterol to save water loss from the cells. Though the bad effects of dehydration on our internal organs is minimized, the cholesterol creates other health hazards. Water, though frequently overlooked, is a very handy and effective tool for heart health. Before meals: Having half a glass of warm water 30 minutes before your day’s major meals will activate your digestive system. It gets food digested easily and properly. Replace the cold fizzy drink with a glass of warm water with your meals. It will not only help in better digestion, but break the fat up in your food to make it easier on your digestive system. If you are trying to lose weight, bulking up on water before meals is also a good way to limit your appetite. But be sure not to overdo it, as your body still needs food to function. Remember, too much of anything is never a good idea. Energy: Ever felt extremely tired even though you didn’t do much during the day? Well, it may very well be because of lack of proper fluid intake. The earliest signs of dehydration are tiredness and fatigue. Also, whenever you feel like you can’t concentrate on whatever you are doing, trying drinking a glass of water. You might very well be surprised with the result. Taking water along with you on your jogs and gym sessions is a good idea. It will keep you hydrated and boost your energy level. Cleansing and kidney health: If you do not have proper hydration, it becomes very hard for your kidneys and bladder to flush out all the acid waste and toxins efficiently. This will lead to chemical imbalance in your body. Also, it opens up the door to frequent infections and stone formation. The simple idea is to wash out harmful toxins from our body. After all, like any other cleaning company our body too needs a good supply of water to flush out dirt and muck. 🙂 Allergy and asthma: Being all stuffy in the face and head doesn’t make one feel any good during cold or allergy flare-ups. It is a good idea to drink warm water more when you are feeling all bogged down. It will not only replenish the fluid loss but also make your symptoms less severe. This is because when dehydrated, the body tends to constrict it’s airways to reserve water. Allergy and asthma attacks too tend to become a bit less uncomfortable and severe with proper hydration. Joint pain and stiffness: Well, this is not a very well-known goodness of water but works all the same. The cartilage padding supporting the joints is mainly made up of water. So, you can see why dehydration causes the pain and stiffness to go worse. Though staying well-dehydrated is not going to prevent them or cure them, it surely does take away some of the discomfort. Headache cure: Dehydration has a way of sparking off headaches. So, the next time you find your day getting ruined with a headache, just grab a glass of water. May be, that’s all you need and not frequent painkillers! Hydration ensures proper flow of blood and oxygen to the brain, keeping frequent headaches at bay. “Say goodbye to frequent headaches by staying hydrated because it’ll ease the flow of blood and oxygen to the brain.” (click to Tweet) Banish skin problems: We have already indulged ourselves in this one at quite a length. However, let’s just recount these quickly. Water is your skin’s best friend whether you drink it on it’s own or mix up quick, easy and delicious concoctions. You can use it as mist spray or go for a Roman bathhouse technique. It helps even if you enjoy a relaxing foot dip after a tiring day. Dehydration causes all sorts of skin problems. With proper hydration, you can avoid frequent skin breakouts, psoriasis, dandruff and yes, you got it right – premature ageing. Have you ever seen a dehydrated fruit? That’s what happens to our skin too! Scary, isn’t it? Proper hydration and detoxing are the two famously ill-kept secrets for a youthful dewy glow. “Proper hydration and detoxing are the two famously ill-kept secrets for a youthful dewy glow.” (click to Tweet) 8 Smart Tips to Stay Hydrated Without Turning it into a Chore Carry a bottle whenever you go out and sip on it once in a while. It will make you feel refreshed and energized throughout the day. Do it for a few days and then try going out without a bottle of water for a day. You will be able to see the difference for yourself! Keep a bottle full
Ever felt really good stretching out after working for long? Bad posture can cause a lot of aches, pains and some more serious health issues. This detailed post will show you how to get good posture through simple tweaks to how you carry yourself. Look good & feel good too. Click to read more.
Seasonal allergies & asthma adversely affect quality of life & general wellbeing. Click to read more how you can use home remedies for treatment of asthma with faster recovery & better symptom control
How to live a happy life isn’t rocket science. Being happy shouldn’t be tough & it actually isn’t. Here are 6 absolutely-makes-sense tips to fall back in love with life.
Well really, how do you decide? Can following or flouting rules be premeditated or does it just happen organically? I believe, the beauty of any artwork being subjective, there is really no right or wrong way to do it. What might look superbly outstanding to one, may evoke no emotion at all in the other! But for those just beginning their art journey, this really is a point to consider. In the past, I was never sure as to whether or not I would be sticking wholeheartedly to the guidelines I read in some book about using a certain art medium. However, gradually a system did fall into place. Because I am a self-taught artist, I didn’t have in-depth analysis of different styles and technicalities ingrained in my subconscious to be overridden. I picked and chose the things I liked to learn and so developed a style that might not be technically sound in the traditional sense, but which worked for me. Everyone has their own method of deciding which course to follow before they start painting. Here is the method that works for me and may be helpful in creating your own, if you still haven’t got one. 5 Things to Consider About Rules Before Committing to the Canvas Reason behind your artwork: Is this artwork requested by someone or is it a part of your collection? If it has been commissioned, then how malleable are the guidelines? Surely there is the freedom of your recognized style, but is there much space for experimentation? These are some of the questions that might show the wriggle space available for tweaking the rules about. However, if the end product is meant to be a part of your collection, there would be more space for exploring your creativity. The questions to ask yourself would be whether you are adhering to a specific theme and as such can’t be tangentially different. But, if you simply have an idea and want to explore it, the options become quite varied. Degree of rebellion: If you do want to play around with the rules, how much further away from them are you really willing to digress? What other alleys can you think of to explore? It is a good idea to be clear in your mind about these beforehand, as it might turn out to be quite tricky finding cohesiveness full-on into the painting. After all, disjointed is not what we are usually aiming at in our creations! There might be a couple of different styles visible in the work, but there has to be some sense of cordial interaction between them. Sitting down to paint this, I was torn between creating a realistic work and going geometric. But, then decided to explore both simultaneously. I have tried to go full on figurative keeping the abstract theme intact with geometrical shapes getting the major share of space. From the reactions I have received of this artwork, it has led me to believe that the idea worked. So, you never know 🙂 ! Confidence matters: This is an important one. Because, no matter the options available and degree of leniency of the guidelines, your confidence about being able to communicate through your artwork with equal efficiency is very important. Why do you think flouting certain guidelines and tweaking others would work better for you? And, how do you plan to do those? If you can answer these convincingly, then the results would be apparent in your work. I have always been interested in creating mixed media pieces, but usually the reason was ‘ease of rendition’. And this showed in those artworks! The heart was missing. So, I have decided not to play with it until I am confident enough in this style to bend it according to my whim and fancy. Visualization is the key: As Michelangelo said, “I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free.” Every artist first has a vision of what they want to create and then plod through the technicalities and non-technicalities of the creative process to reach it. If you can visualize yourself achieving the end result and have a rough idea of how to reach it following your own set of rules, then by all means flout them left and right! Put your own spin on the rules and apply what works for you. Time is of essence: If you have the liberty of time, then why not? If you have time enough to redo everything if need be, then it is a good time to experiment. Some days, we just want to dive right in without too much forethought or planning. These occasions have a charm of their own, exploring different avenues as you go. The results can range from fabulous to hideous. But, the point is to give a free rein to your imagination and trying to find what works and what doesn’t. But, are rules and guidelines really limiting to our imagination or does it simply offer discipline to our thoughts to form a cohesive meaning? Maybe, it’s too big a discussion for us to reach any reasonable conclusion satisfactory to all parties involved 🙂 . However, the bottom line is as Atticus said, “When it comes to art, it’s important not to hide the madness.”. Go crazy, explore, do whatever you need to in order to find your own style and what works best for you. After all, every new genre germinated when an artist decided to creatively explore and have fun with the rules! Do you like to stick to the rules and create amazing artwork or do you like to go rogue and explore? Follow my blog with Bloglovin
Don’t we all like things that can be used interestingly in multiple ways than just one obvious one? Well, most of the herbs and spices in our kitchen do exactly that. And I am not even talking in culinary terms, but of major health benefits and overall wellness. This brand new year, I am beginning this series about how to get the best of your kitchen pharmacy. It being winter in this part of the world, I guessed ginger would be the best candidate to start it off on a refreshingly warm note. We use this multi-talented participant of our kitchen as oil, powder, dried-up chunks or fresh juicy knuckles. Gingerol is the main ingredient that gives it anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. Ginger oil also acts as a great antifungal ointment. Not bad, right? So, let’s explore how ginger really can help keep our wellness factor up. 7 Benefits of Including Ginger in Your Diet Cough and cold: Among other minerals and nutrients, ginger has magnesium and vitamin C. As we all know, vitamin C comes in quite handy dealing with pesky flu symptoms. Ginger is quite effective in dealing with a few types of respiratory viruses as well. Warming the body from within, it is quite helpful for cough, cold and sore throat symptom improvement. To make this healing tea, take one and half cups of water and add an inch of ginger. Boil and reduce it to about a cup of water. Add half a teaspoon of green tea leaves and let it simmer for a couple of minutes. Squirt in a dash of lemon and a dollop of honey. Taking this concoction 2 to 3 times a day will help quickly minimize cough and cold discomfort. However, ginger and honey combo can produce quite a bit of heat in the body. So, moderation is the word if the weather isn’t too cold or there is a medical history of hypertension. Detoxification and Immune system: Ginger is a great source of antioxidants and can be found in most of the easy-to-make detox drinks. Take a bottle full of water and add a few slices of ginger, a couple of mint sprigs, a few berries of your choice and a dollop of honey. Leave it overnight. The next day, you can sip your way to detoxified glory. It gives a boost to our immune system by getting rid of unwanted toxins and cleaning up the lymphatic system. Gingerol, the main component of this herb, is also quite effective in dealing with many types of bacteria. It is good for oral health too. Digestive health: The phenolic compounds found in ginger are a boon to the digestive system. Starting from the mouth, it encourages saliva production, then bile production for better digestion and also helps relieve gastric irritations. Ginger has the ability to relax the smooth muscle lining of our digestive system. This in turn helps movement of food better from stomach all through to the large intestine. The whole thing is actually quite beneficial in easing bloating and constipation symptoms. Helping better breakdown of food and thus absorption in our body, ginger helps us get the most of what we eat. It is also believed to be effective in treating indigestion, reflux symptoms and intestinal ulcers. Ginger has been known since ancient times to be quite helpful in sea, motion and morning sickness and even nausea. Healthy weight management: Ginger improves digestion of fat and it’s better absorption in the body. This translates to fewer unnecessary prompts/indicators for minerals and nutrients in the form of food from our body. Minimizing cravings helps maintain ideal body weight through diet. Helping better breakdown of food and absorption in our body, this medicinal root encourages healthy weight management. Heart health: Ginger has anti-clotting powers and as such is quite helpful in minimizing the risks for heart attack or stroke. Also, it is believed to reduce bad cholesterol in our body that is one of the major factors contributing to heart diseases. There are ongoing studies to prove this, but traditionally they have been quite popularly used for cardiac health, even in Ayurvedic medicine. Gingerol and protease from this herb promote cardiovascular circulation. Diabetes: Diabetics or those at diabetic risk can benefit from this curative rhizome too. It is known to improve insulin sensitivity of our body, thus tackling the problem at it’s root. However, the most important point here is, any change in diabetic medicine regimen should be done by the physician. Taking ginger for diabetes doesn’t mean once can shrug off prescription medications. Ginger does help manage sugar levels in our body, but medication changes should be left to the discretion of your physician. In fact, it would be advisable for diabetic patients to consult their physician before commencing a ginger regimen. There have been researches and studies on the efficacy of ginger in this context, but they are still in their infancy and need more time to be actually conclusive. Even if there aren’t many proven studies, taking ginger helps us avoid other complications related to diabetes. It works towards the overall health of our body and provides protective benefit to kidneys, liver and eyes. Hair: This one doesn’t really require including ginger in your diet, but rather of applying it topically. Though I haven’t personally tried it myself, it is believed to help regrowth of hair in people dealing with hair fall problem. You can apply it directly to the scalp or mix it with olive oil before applying if you have sensitive skin. Keep it on for about half an hour and then shampoo it off. Follow this routine about 2 times per week. Being a natural remedy it might take a while, say about a month, to start showing results. Patience and persistence are the keys here 🙂 . Ginger has beta-carotene, capsaicin, vitamin C, magnesium, potassium and copper. Amongst other benefits, it is also believed to reduce risk factors for colorectal, lung, breast
Which spice do you think is in the same ‘healthy’ league as red wine, dark chocolate and berries? Yes, we are talking about cinnamon – a native spice of the lush and sunny Caribbean, South America and Southeast Asia. The tingling flavour and aroma of this bark comes from essential oils that are rich in antiviral, antifungal, antibacterial and antioxidant qualities. It is especially rich in the antioxidant flavonoid, which controls various kinds of inflammation in our body expertly. Cinnamon can become your go-to spice for anxiety, depression, irritability symptom control as well as to improve performance and motivation. Use it as scented car freshener to feel comparatively more relaxed even in heavy traffic. Try some soothing cinnamon tea at work to stay focused without being all wound up. This spice can help children too with ADHD symptom control by reducing oxidative stress in the body. Including it in your daily diet or even using it as candles or air freshener can help greatly with mood and stress levels. Let’s explore some other ways to use this super spice for enhancing our general wellbeing. 7 Ways to Use Cinnamon for Health and Beauty Aches and pains: Cinnamon has anti-inflammatory properties that help lower swelling and inflammation. What it amounts to is that you can use it for natural pain management as in muscle soreness, toothache, menstrual pain and even advanced age-related aches and pains. It’s powder, oil, leaf oil or essential oil can be used to combat varied types of inflammations. Clean and wipe dry your aching tooth. Now, apply a couple drops of cinnamon oil to the affected tooth and it’s neighboring ones. This will tide you over till you visit your dentist. Apply leaf oil or essential oil well diluted with water for muscle and joint soreness, sprains and even arthritic pain. Arthritic pain also responds well to the concoction of a cup of hot water, teaspoon of cinnamon powder and a teaspoon of honey taken regularly. However, be mindful of the fact that this is essentially a very warming brew and might not go well with certain medical conditions like high blood pressure. Cold and flu: The warming quality of this spice that increases blood oxygenation level comes in handy for taking care of cold and flu. It also has effective antibacterial properties that help relieve symptoms of cough, cold, bronchitis, chest congestion and such other respiratory conditions. Mucilage, a water-soluble fiber present in cinnamon works well in soothing a sore throat. Enjoy a hot cup of cinnamon ginger tea to help relieve cold symptoms. Else, take a tablespoon of honey spiked with 1/4th teaspoon of cinnamon powder twice a day for about 3 days (or until symptoms mitigate). This will be helpful in countering a sore throat, clear sinuses or chronic cough. Gut care: In traditional western medicine as well as in Ayurvedic medicine, this tree bark has appeared as a gut-friendly spice. Catechins (an antioxidant) present in cinnamon not only helps with digestion but prevents bloating, constipation, IBS and more. It comes in quite handy especially after a heavy or spicy meal. If you know you are going to have a heavy meal, take 2 tablespoons of honey with a pinch of cinnamon powder beforehand. This will relieve any acidity building up and help digest the meal more comfortably. Else, have a hot cup of cinnamon tea to relieve the discomfort after a generous meal. Foot care: The antibacterial and antifungal properties of cinnamon work well for taking care of your feet. Soak your feet for about 15 minutes in a bath of 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder, 5 tablespoons of lemon juice, 1 cup milk, 1 teaspoon olive oil and 1 liter tolerably hot water. This helps take care of foot fungal growth or bacterial infection and also leaves the feet feeling soft and smooth. Skin care: Cinnamon is great for treating acne, eczema and other non-chronic skin issues because of it’s antibacterial qualities. Along with promoting collagen production, as part of a facial scrub, it can make the skin look firmer, nourished as well as more plump and supple. Mix cinnamon powder, olive oil, almond oil and sea salt or brown sugar to make a quick facial scrub. To tackle acne and pimples, apply a 1:4 mixture of cinnamon powder and honey. Leave it overnight before washing off with warm water in the morning. Repeat weekly until needed. To make a cinnamon face mask, mix 1 tablespoon oatmeal, 2 tablespoons banana puree with 1 teaspoon yogurt, 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon powder. Not only will it give your skin a natural glow, but also help with rosacea, acne, pimples, and any other kind of facial skin rash. Hair care: This is a great spice for hair care too whether you use it as a scalp scrub or hair mask. To give a clean and rejuvenated makeover to your scalp, mix a teaspoon of coarsely ground cinnamon powder with a hair oil of your choice whether almond, olive oil or coconut oil. Scrub gently in circular motion for 10-15 minutes. Leave it on for 20 minutes to half an hour and then wash off with a mild shampoo. For a refreshing hair mask, mix a teaspoon each of cinnamon powder and honey with a tablespoon of olive or almond oil and a whole egg. Leave it on for about half an hour. Wash it off with your regular shampoo for gorgeously soft tresses. Food for thought (or rather, the brain): Including cinnamon in our daily life can boost our cognitive function and brain health. Oxidative stress on our brain appears as age-related degeneration of brain function where the cells morph and self-destruct. One well-known instance can be Alzheimer’s. Cinnamon has certain properties that can work towards easing the symptoms and impairments to a considerable extent. This spice works in two general ways. One, it activates the neuroprotective proteins to reduce accelerated brain cell damage, thus slowing the disease advancement
The world of art is a wonderful place. Here, you can find negative empowering the positive. Efforts at sidestepping definite forms brings out the best possible rendition! It’s a magical place where the idea of balance takes on innumerable interpretations. In fact, the interplay of positive and negative space is ingeniously manipulated to create intriguingly complex images. We have all seen Rubin’s vase creating optical illusion, right? Negative space, i.e, the space not used by the subject, is as important as the object in focus. It helps guide the viewer’s eyes and attention to the mainstay of a frame. Sometimes, expert modulation of just the negative space can create interestingly well-defined positive spaces. It provides balance without overwhelming the space. Like yin and yang, the central idea is importance of balance. Balance like harmonizing flavors of your favorite recipe or in your attitude to life between sense of humor and gravitas. Let’s dig a bit deeper to identify some interesting ways in which negative space works its magic. 5 Facts About the Power of Negative Space Overcoming pre-knowledge overload: Sometimes what holds us back from capturing the true essence of a subject matter is the overload of existing knowledge about its structure. For many people, this comes forth while trying to paint hands or feet and may be even trees. The pre-knowledge of their shape stops us from truly noticing the play of their positioning, perspective and individuality. In such situations, studying the negative space through and around the positive space helps. Attempting to recreate the space around as accurately as possible, helps bring out the subject matter’s true likeness and feel. Negative spaces have a shape of their own and if expressed properly, can add oodles of interesting perspective to the object in focus. It helps overcome the limitations of pre-knowledge of an object’s shape and dimensions, making it more life-like. Creating just through negative space detailing, tickles the viewer’s imagination with unconventional angles and dimensions. Capturing shape and defining structure: It doesn’t only help better define the composition of an artwork, but positioning of objects in focus too. For instance, the main object in an artwork with more negative space on top generally promotes the idea of weight. Also, more negative space at the bottom in a landscape gives the illusion of distance. It guides and focuses the viewer’s attention on the subject matter. Just like the star performer gets the spacious corner office with amazing views, important objects get more personal negative space. Creatively modulating the space around an object in focus adds to its character and interest value. Optical breathing space: A frame with too many elements of interest fails to communicate as effectively to its viewers as one with enough optical breathing area. Whereas, an empty negative space can speak volumes wielding the powers of minimalism. It can communicate the artwork’s feel or mood, offer play space for the viewer’s own perspective and imagination, as well as create interest through the art of suggestion. Just like a living space with too many elements can work only if expertly handled, similarly an artwork chock full of objects vying for space can work only if handled ingeniously. Here too, the area occupied by one item and it’s interaction with the objects around it, work as the negative space for its neighbors. Balancing a composition: The simplest and most used technique of balancing a composition or the space available to work, is to exploit negative space. We can counteract the horizontal heaviness of the main element with ample vertical empty space or lighter shapes. Also, the same is true for vertically oriented point of focus. Positive space and the work area boundaries shape up abstract negative structure in a frame. Out of focus objects, abstract shapes and empty space peeping through a subject matter offer interest and help balance its heaviness out. It works on a similar principle as an opaque curtain of similar color would feel heavier visually than one with ample cut-work in it. Infusing mystery and interest: Negative space with a specific structure framed within the subject catches viewer’s eyes and generates interest. It ignites the onlooker’s imagination with associations of their own and emotions connected with their personal history and experience. This creates a sense of mystery around an artwork. Using negative space as the subject creates interest, atmosphere and gives an unconventional character to the frame. It is also a great tool to create optical illusion in any work of art. An interesting point to note, silhouette of people or objects against a brightly lit background wouldn’t be considered as essentially negative space. This is so because the silhouettes have a definite shape and are subjects of the composition. Here, the brightly lit background would become the negative space framing and defining the shape of the silhouette. However, it can be an example of two coexisting objects acting as negative space for each other if a defined and interesting portion of the brightly lit space is captured within boundaries of the silhouette. Negative space can say loads without any visual aid modulation, even if it’s an empty space. It can act as the protagonist as well as offer support and focus to the subject. So, no matter which way you decide to employ negative space, it’s importance and indispensability cannot be denied. This is one negative thing that has loads of positive connotations! How do you like to use your negative space? 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