Accidental Still Life

January 28, 2014

I brought this box home from my studio and had nowhere to put it so I placed in my light box.  I needed a subject to paint for today and was thinking of the ginger jar and just placed it in front of the box and there is was, a composition.  I liked the way the black balanced out the ginger jar and created just enough interest.

 

This experience told me to always be on the lookout for a composition, it could be right in front of you. 

Compostion # 12 - The Dirty Dozen

July 16, 2013

A dozen is  good place to stop writing about composition.  It's been a good review for me.  I have to keep reminding myself of the need for planning and design in every painting.  I love to paint and will paint anything in front of me without planning if I don't stop for this step.  

I like the way the book The Simple Secret to better Painting by Greg Albert summarizes with one rule of composition:    NEVER MAKE ANY TWO INTERVALS ALIKE.  Variety is another way of putting it.  It sounds easy, but it applies to every aspect including color, temperature, value and more.  

There are lots of good example in the book.  

I going to keep using Pinterest to stay aware of composition and keep these two books next to my easel.  

(I looked for a few paintings of mine where I was thinking hard about composition).

Compostion # 11

July 14, 2013


The last few days I've been looking through books and art online of some of my favorite artists studying their paintings thinking primarily of composition.

I added quite a few to my board on pinterest.  I was looking a lot for patterns of light and dark as well as a gestural flow through the painting, that something that holds it together

Maggie Siner, a Virginia artist is someone very expert at handling patterns of light and dark that take you through her paintings.  She has a beautiful website.
http://www.maggiesiner.com/paintings.php  I put quite a few of hers on my pinterest board.


(The zinnia painting below is an old one of mine, but does have have some of what I've been talking about

 

 

Below is composition sent in by friend.  I'm hoping more people will send things to me that I can post and you can critique with your comments. 

 

There are a lot of good things going on here.  Do you see an armature?  Pattern of darks?  Look at edges of canvas.  Temperature?

 



One more link to a very good summary of Ian Roberts guidelines.  It is from Artist Daily, an online magazine.


http://www.artistsnetwork.com/articles/art-demos-techniques/use-design-to-create-a-powerful-painting-by-ian-roberts

Composition # 8

July 11, 2011

Our internet had a breakdown so I've not been able to add any posts for a few days.  I'm still studying composition and could probably keep doing that for quite awhile.  What got me going on this was my own frustration in doing a painting a day and keeping them interesting and worthwhile.  I realized that I needed to do more planning for each one.  I've been consistently adding to the Daily Paintworks Website and reached 180 paintings listed.  My goal is 250 for the year.   I was happy with the one I did yesterday.  

6 x 6 - Available at Daily Paintworks

The composition for this one was about having the darks create an armature and a gestural path into the painting.  This time I used the VALUE FINDER app from my iPhone to see the pattern that the darks created.  It is a really valuable tool in looking at the pattern of lights and darks.  I think it was worth the $4.99 that I spent.  You take a photo of your set-up and the value finder creates a number of different value patterns.  The most helpful to me is the NOTAN, a pure black and white version of your photo.  

The Art Tutorials at the Daily Paintworks are also worth investigating.  Carol Marine does a really good one on composition.  She recommends a book called The Simple Secret to Better Painting.

Here's a link to the tutorials:

Daily Paintworks Tutorials

Compositon #4

July 6, 20013

 

I keep dreaming up new uses for Pinterest.  If you use it you will know what I'm talking about here.  I started a Board devoted to Composition today.  If you've read my past blogs, you will know it is something I want to strengthen in my paintings.  It would be nice if other people could add it this board, but as far as I know, you can't do that.  You could start your own board though and I will follow yours.   

 

So today I'm concentrating on the "S" armature and I pinned quite a few paintings by artists that I admire with the "S" Armature in their compositions.  I also included the only other one of mine using it.  I re-pinned some other things about composition on that board. There are some drawings about composition by Edgar Payne that are really helpful.  And, of course, lots by Ian Roberts. 

 

Think big, do a board for each armature, wish I had thought of that sooner. 

 

 

Link to Pinterest Board on Compostion

 

The "S" armature?

 

This is a subject I should stay with for awhile.  It's really made me look at my own paintings thinking only about composition.

Page 19 in Ian Robert's book is about the "S"  armature.  When I looked back at my own paintings I could only find two.  What does that say?   If you follow a path from the bottom, along the turnips, then vertical line to top it does create a loose S shape. 

Composition

 

 

July 3, 2013

I wanted to stick with theme of composition for awhile.  Mainly because it is something I want to improve in my own paintings.  This is my day to do paperwork, so I am going back to a painting that I did awhile ago, but one where my emphasis was achieving a composition with strong abstract shapes and an entrance into the painting. The angle of the fabric leads you into the painting

 

I remember doing a thumbnail and really trying to put these principles into practice.  I need to keep this book open when I paint.  . 

 

 

All this is on page 33 of Ian Robert's book, Mastering Composition.  He is writing on new one called Search for Beauty.   It won't be published for awhile, but I can't wait to get it. 

 

 

 

I think this was an 8 x 10.  It did sell right away so there be something to taking the time to plan a painting. 

PS - Later  today I plan to do some thumbnails at least to stick to the composition a day plan, maybe for a month even though I know a year would be better.