The Art of Elimination

I love to paint on location but sometimes there is too much subject matter to include in one painting.

So how do we choose what to include and what to eliminate from our paintings?

1. Name the one subject that you want the viewer to focus on.

2. Name the area on the painting surface that you want to zero in on.

3. Think of textures in the background that can be eliminated.

4. Decide which background objects don't add to the focal area.

5. Choose some dominant colors, and subtract objects that don't fit the color scheme.

6. Or....Change the color of those objects.

7. Make the focal object fit into its surroundings.

I'm including the photo of the derelict that I painted on location so you can see the stuff I chose to eliminate. It seemed to me that a derelict should be in an isolated location, so I took out everything but the old boat and one palm tree.

When composing, eliminate anything that doesn't support the main actor!