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In the last two posts, I talked about a reverse Z composition. I also included a sketch that I said I would paint. Here it is.
Follow the line of rocks in the foreground to the lighter rocks where I placed the focal point, a marooned lobster buoy, a dark rock, and then a silhouette of a boat on the far show. Zig-Zag.
I'm having a good painting summer despite the weather.
Choosing subject matter is always the first consideration in creating a painting. So often I see paintings by students who want to show you everything in front of them. As a result, the painting is about everything and in turn, nothing in particular. There seems to be no emotional connection to what they are looking at.
Often I have the same problem. But over the years, I have learned to go with my first impression of a scene. The painting of the float a couple of posts back is a case in point. A whole harbor scene was in front of me: boats, beach, trees, an island cottage. But I kept looking at the float below the dock where I was standing. My eye kept going back to a green buoy and the round anchor buoys on the float. Something spoke to me about that green buoy.
I fought the temptation to paint it because I wondered if a buying public would respond to my choice of subject matter. Still, I wanted to paint the spot of green, the white spheres, and the wonderful reflections in the water. I was not sorry about my choice.
The other day I returned to the same spot and looked again at the float. The tidal current had now exposed the other end of the float. I got out my sketchbook and drew that little slice of outdoor still life.
I began to feel that I had stumbled upon a theme. Off to my right I spotted a single buoy that had been stranded on some rocks. It was so far in the distance that I almost didn't see it. (See photo) But it spoke to me of isolation, like a castaway marooned far from its purposeful place. I zeroed in on it to make this sketch. Today I will paint it.
My point is, go with what your heart sees instead of what might be more "saleable." I can almost guarantee your result will be more satisfying.
Determining how the eye enters the painting is an important decision. Avoiding a straight line becomes necessary to avoid monotony. Case in point: Put your finger over the float in the foreground. At that point, you have a straight line of boats leading to the left hand side of the paper.
Likewise, cover up the boat on the right hand side of the page, and the straight line becomes even more problematic.
With those two elements, the eye follows a path of a reverse Z Float to largest boat, larger boat to the two other boats in the foreground. The smallest boats, emphasized by the shoreline, swing your eye back to the right.
-- - - - - -
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O.....
The zig-zag becomes even more apparent when you look at the ripples in the foreground water. By limiting the darker tones to the right side of the bottom of the page, it leads your eye to the buoy.
And, yes, I really do think and plan for these compositional elements!
Here's a painting I did from a sketch I made in New Hampshire. (See post below.) We had about two hours of summer this morning, so painting from my sketchbook comes in handy. It is Windjammer Week here in Boothbay Harbor, Maine. The Windjammers, parade, and fireworks are on Wednesday. Hope the weather clears by then! I hope to get in a painting of the fleet to share.
Southport Trappings
When I first spotted this float, it was the lone green buoy that caught my eye. When I painted the scene however, I was thinking in terms of complementary colors.
The dominant color is blue. The complement of blue is orange. Brown is a dirty orange!
First I painted the contents of the float. Then I painted the water which gradated to subtle tones in the foreground ripples. And last, I painted the reflections. The very dark values of the reflections are connected to the midtone ripples so as not isolate the reflection of the float.
Blue dominates, but the warmth on the float helps exaggerate the feeling of sunlight.
Don't forget my September 9-13 workshop here in Boothbay Harbor, Maine.
P.S. Is anybody out there? I have 86 followers, but rarely get more than two likes to let me know that my blog is being read. It's a little discouraging.
The artists of the Renaissance had a mathematical theory about where to place the focal point of a painting. They called it the Golden Mean.
It's a rather complicated theory, if you ask me. So other modern teachers reduce it to placing the focal point on the thirds: a third of the way from an edge of the paper or canvas.
Then the problem becomes one of balance. In this painting of Cuckold's Light House just off Southport Island near Boothbay Harbor, the center of interest is the lighthouse. I've dutifully placed it on the thirds. I balanced the small man-made structure with the larger foreground rocks.
The color of the roof also attracts attention.
Composition is an important element in arranging the objects or focal points in a painting.
Jackson Falls
My sketchbook is a way to gather information for future paintings, but it also acts as a visual diary of my trip. I love remembering the scenes, the sounds, the people I meet, and the light. When I take a photo, the time spent at the site is minimal. Sketching takes a bit of time and a lot of concentration on the scene. Later, all the details come flooding back, and I can re-live the memory.
The weather in New Hampshire was not conducive to painting; it was rainy, then foggy, and pretty chilly. My sketchbook provided a way to record a moment in a much more intense way than snapping a photo does.
Just down the road from my historic inn in Jackson are the cascading falls named for the town. I sat at a picnic table for one sketch, and sketched from the car the first day. The White Mountains were right out my window, and I also enjoyed sketching from the long veranda with its rocking chairs.
And the cog railroad passes through Crawford Notch where an old depot stands.
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