Framing Your Subject

Before you put a frame around your masterpiece, you need to think about framing your subject within the composition.  In this scene, the rocks and pine trees on the right side were really much farther to the right, but I needed them as a frame for the lighthouse and island.  So I moved them!  That's something that your camera can't do. 

The dark values in the foreground also provide a foil to the light on the island.  Our eyes are drawn to the light, so overlapping that area with darker values cause the eyes to go outward to the lighthouse.

The approach, therefore, is to paint the background first, coming forward to the island and then to the darker foreground.  Again, plan the values, and the colors will be able to sing.

These helpful hints and others will be explained in detail in my workshop in Boothbay Harbor, Maine the week of Sept. 8 - 12, 2014.  Contact me at caroljessen@yahoo.com for more information.