| When I paint, I am not attempting to capture the | | | | right, and the top to the bottom, you may have |
| likeness of a landscape or figure. My subject is the | | | | balance, but you lose interest. |
| painting itself. In spite of this, some viewers | | | | Getting the composition right, or balancing the |
| immediately try to pin down an image they can | | | | elements of color, line and shape while maintaining |
| name in my art. Not that seeing things in abstract | | | | a dynamic tension, is a major preoccupation of |
| paintings is a crime, even if the artist didn't put | | | | the painter. If you add a blue brushstroke to the |
| them there. But you miss an opportunity to see | | | | bottom left-hand corner, for example, you may |
| more if you spend all your energy trying to turn | | | | have to change something in the top right-hand |
| the painting into something you can name, like a | | | | corner because of it. You can't concentrate on |
| figure or flower or landscape. | | | | one section at a time, ignoring the rest of the |
| What do you actually see when you look at the | | | | canvas, and expect to end up with a composition |
| painting? Color, shape, line and texture are the | | | | that works. |
| physical elements that combine to make up the | | | | Energy is the life force that is present in all good |
| image. A selection of dark, heavy shapes may | | | | art. This is not something that is easily defined, |
| impress you as somber; light, airy images as | | | | but it is the opposite state of static flatness. It is |
| mystical; balanced, and temperate forms as | | | | this energy that makes a painting speak to you, |
| peaceful. Shape, color and form have meaning in | | | | and makes an artist's work original and identifiable |
| and of themselves. We react emotionally to these | | | | as the work of that artist. Energy is created out |
| elements even if they create no recognizable | | | | of the artist's materials and tools, but the end is |
| object for us to hang onto. Thus, a painting of | | | | more than the means in the same sense that a |
| ragged, angular forms in deep reds will evoke an | | | | musical composition is so much more than a |
| entirely different feeling from one in soft curves | | | | collection of notes. |
| of yellow and white. | | | | The next time you look at an abstract or |
| The handling of space, or the illusion of space, is | | | | "modern" painting, don't begin by searching for |
| another element in the artist's toolbox. Are you | | | | some identifiable object from your world. Instead, |
| drawn into a world of three-dimensional space | | | | try to enter the world the artist created. Relax |
| stretching beyond the framework of the painting, | | | | and let your eye leisurely wander over the |
| as you might be in a landscape? Or are you kept | | | | painting's surface. Let your heart and mind react |
| visually taut, as a skater on a pond, skimming | | | | to its colors, shapes, and textures. Let yourself |
| across a two-dimensional surface? The impression | | | | be drawn into the illusion of its spaces, the action |
| of depth, perspective, airiness, solidity, and other | | | | of its lines, and the mood of its atmosphere. |
| spatial relations are created and controlled by the | | | | Step back and look at the painting from a |
| artist. | | | | distance. What is its impact as you approach it? |
| The overall composition or design of a painting is | | | | Move up close and explore the intricacies of |
| what guides the viewer's eye. Have you ever | | | | brushstrokes, paint thicknesses and compositional |
| looked at a painting or photograph and felt it was | | | | details. See how the parts are woven together to |
| off balance? One of the big differences between | | | | form the whole. |
| amateur snapshots and professional photographs | | | | Give the painting time. No artwork can be |
| is the quality of the composition. In an amateur | | | | understood and appreciated in a ten second |
| photo, perhaps all the action is centered on the | | | | glance. Good art should grow on you, becoming |
| left, with nothing but empty space on the right. | | | | more interesting and more enjoyable to look at |
| The lopsidedness gives you a sense of unease. | | | | as you live with it. |
| (Of course an artist may use this unease | | | | You may still see things in abstract paintings, |
| deliberately as well.) | | | | finding birds and trees and animals hidden in the |
| Composition is one of the fundamental tools an | | | | forms. This is as natural as turning clouds into |
| art student is taught. The goal is to have a | | | | recognizable shapes. But by opening your eyes to |
| balance of visual elements without making the | | | | the possibilities of the world the artist created, |
| weight so balanced that the art becomes boring. | | | | you may see more than you ever expected to |
| If everything on the left is exactly equal to the | | | | see in abstract art. |