Notes on Composition

Through composition, the artist tells the story of the subject in relation to the other objects in the painting. Begin a composition by dividing the painting surface into areas. Decide how much space to set aside for the sky and for the ground plane, especially for a vista. The line that separates the two is the horizon line. The position of the horizon line on a painting makes a big difference. The lower you place it, the more the horizon will appear to recede into the distance. In other words, the composition of the painting will appear to have greater depth.

If the ground plane makes up most of the painting, then focus on it. For the time being, leave the white of the canvas to act as your sky, and begin to paint the darker colors of the ground plane and its fields, trees, houses, mountains, and so on, until they are well established.

            Remember that you are interpreting a three-dimensional landscape on a flat surface. One way to approach composition is to break down a painting into its two-dimensional elements, which ultimately combine to create the sense of three-dimensional space. These elements are the shapes, patterns, and planes. Squinting your eyes helps you see your subject in two dimensions. It eliminates the surface details and groups together all the large shapes.

Try to see the landscape in patterns of light and shadow. Establish the largest shapes in the composition first, then the large shapes that comprise shadows. They are the easiest shapes to see and group together. Squint in order to see them more clearly. Follow this with adjacent shapes. You can use a single color to relate the shadow masses. Afterward, different colors can be painted into this single tone. Varying detail leaves something to the viewer’s imagination and leads the eye from specific areas to suggested areas. To keep the shapes unified, use colors that are similar in value.