ABSTRACT
The basic elements can be seen in relation to light, colour, time and movement. Single elements may exist by themselves with apparently little reference to their surroundings. The effect of increasing number may result in practical complications when resolving a design. Often the number of elements of a particular type may accumulate over time until they become too many for the landscape. Lines, with their strong single dimension, also start to cause visual forces and tensions depending on their relative positions. In the landscape the position of elements in relation to landform can produce very marked effects, particularly on the summits of hills. In artistic terms the Zen garden from Japan where stones represent islands in a raked gravel sea relies on position in its most precise sense, since there is a great deal of care required to produce the near-perfect effect of the whole composition.
