Breakfast on the Terrace 43 x 58 cm (17 x 23 in), watercolour A lot is happening in this painting, but by organizing the composition of the items in the foreground the background activity could be painted in with more abandon.
The focal point
Usually the subject of your painting will be the focal point, the place in the painting you wish to draw the viewer’s eye towards. Sometimes, of course, the subject is intangible – an atmosphere or an emotion – but there may still be an area of the painting, large or small, that you wish to emphasize.
If the subject of your painting is a particular feature place its position within the boundary of the composition before drawing the peripherals. There is nothing more dispiriting than drawing a picture starting from the edges, only to find the main feature is too far over to one side and you have to start all over again.
The picture plane
To simplify drawing the composition imagine there is a pane of glass held vertically in the viewfinder. This is your picture plane. Trace the main shapes and lines onto this imaginary glass. Point your finger into the middle to find a central reference and work out from there.
Flow lines and repetition
Within your view look for lines that lead the eye from the edge of the composition towards the main features or focal point, or that lead the eye out from the centre of the painting to the perimeter and beyond. Notice other lines that repeat or echo the lines of the main feature. These emphasize your focus of interest, though you may not even realize that they have attracted you until you start to draw the composition. Examples could be the direction of a pathway echoed in the rhythm of some branches, the edges of items on a table converging to a common point, or the position of limbs paralleled in the folds of clothes. Repetition of a shape can also be visually interesting.
There are no rules in painting, but generally horizon lines are better placed above and below the centre line, and main features not placed dead centre. A subject’s power to convince will rely on shape, colour and tone. Think two-dimensionally; use shadows and spaces to help define solid forms.
PROJECT
Everyday inspiration
Now it is your turn to discover the potential compositions in your immediate vicinity. Use a viewfinder if it helps and do not be embarrassed to be seen looking through your framed fingers. Any medium will do. I have used oils on paper and a size 9 brush.
MATERIALS USED
oils
paper
BALANCE OF LIGHT AND DARK TONES A contrast of tones can be used as a strong compositional device in a picture. Light coming through a garden gateway can look more dramatic than a quiet, even light.
ITEMS IN RELATION TO EACH OTHER Go round your home and garden and find some readymade compositions. Draw quickly, but place the items accurately in relation to each other on the page. A pile of ironing provides interesting shapes.
WIDE VIEW Now take any view, inside or outside; I picked the sitting room. Hold up your viewfinder as near to your eyes as possible so that you see the largest view. Using a brush, sketch the main elements of the image. Does it make a good composition?
CLOSING IN ON A DETAIL Finally, go in close on a detail within the view, and make a quick sketch noting the balance of light and dark. I chose the pile of magazines on the coffee table.
NARROWING THE FIELD Next take a section of the view, not quite as wide as the first, and by moving the viewfinder around try to pick out an interesting group of shapes. Make another quick sketch with your brush.
postscript
You can check the strength and balance of your composition by looking at the sketch reflected in a mirror. If you are unhappy with it start again.
Voyeur (detail) 28 x 20 cm (11 x 8 in), watercolour
Responding to colour
‘Give me mud and I will paint you the flesh of Venus.’
Delacroix
Colour, with all its cheerful connotations, is often the inspiration for a painting. But it is not just the bright colours of flowers, clothing or sunsets that attract the eye. The muted colours that play across a landscape, the subtle nuances of a person’s complexion or the greys of urban drizzle are equally enthralling for the artist, and even the contemporary colours of the plastic world have a garish charm. So with all this wealth of colour around how can you choose what will translate well into a painting, and how faithful do you need to be to the colours you see?
Your painting may look like a view across a valley or a group of children at play, but in reality it is a collection of colours on a flat surface. It needs to work as a painting first, separate from its inspiration, to truthfully tell the tale of the interest you felt in the subject.
Under a different light source, such as sunlight, cloud cover or artificial light, colours may vary quite dramatically. This fact alone frees you from the obligation to copy colours exactly. You can take what you see and exaggerate or mute colours to make the painting stronger. Many subjects that lack immediate appeal are no longer ruled out if you can see the tiny differences between variations of colour.
Interaction of colour
All colours, except the primaries of red, yellow and blue, are made up of two or three of those primary colours; and a colour that contains just two of the primaries looks stronger if placed next to the third. So if you want to bring out the richness of an orange flower, say, or a wonderful head of auburn hair, paint a bluish colour next to the flower or head.
Natural opposites
Opposite colours, such as orange and blue, are called complementary colours because added together they make up the full complement of three primaries. In the natural world we can find numerous complementary colour contrasts.
A dialogue of two contrasting coloured areas dominating the picture, such as beach and sky, make a strong image. Look out for contrasts when the colours are more subtle too: yellow-ochres, red-browns and blue-greys, for instance.
The Patio 23 x 28 cm (9 x 11 in), watercolour The Burnt Sienna of the patio looks very orange. By adding blue, the complementary colour, into the shadows, the orange can be muted. There is a wash of Burnt Sienna and touches of Cadmium Red under the foliage to dull down the greens and prevent them making the pots look too red.
Using colours
In painting we can use the interaction of opposite colours to enhance and detract. By mixing a complementary