Creating Circulation

Once in a while I like to create my own scenes.  This one consists of elements of a typical lobster shack:  lobster trap, barrels, picnic area, sign, boat, and buoys. 

To lead the eye around the painting, I concentrated on interesting shapes, light values, and broken lines.

Follow the light shape on the beach to the boat which points to the couple under the umbrella. It also connects to the light on the building.

Straight, unbroken lines become monotonous.  Study the dark line along the bottom of the building, and you'll see that it is broken by the legs of the couple, the protrusion of the bow of the boat, the lobster trap, the barrel, and the crates.  The umbrella breaks the line of the roof.

Most of the colors are neutrals, making the warm, pure red umbrella an immediate focal point, highlighting the figures as well.  The red is repeated in more neutral hues on the sign and the high-flying lobster.
 
Consciously design the elements of your painting to circulate the eye.  Keep most of the textures around the focal point, and relegate the softer textures to the edges and corners of the paper.