Choices

Choices is the apt name for this week’s 6×6 inch painting. Why name it choices? Ahhh let me count the ways. But before I do, I want to welcome new readers and share the focus of this blog and today’s post.

Small Spaces Special Places

Welcome new readers! Each year, I select a theme for my weekly paintings. This year’s is “Small Spaces Special Places.” Why? I have been surprised, even delighted, with the small spaces in our house that have captured my eye.

Also, there are the special places I see on my daily dog walks. Each morning, rain or shine, I love getting outdoors and looking for things to paint. Sometimes, we venture on the road and I share paintings of special places from these trips, too.

If you or someone you know will enjoy a weekly dose of color, sign up here for this weekly blog. Let’s get to this week’s topic of choices!

Selection

Since the first week of May, I have been sharing thoughts and information about composition for artists and collectors on Instagram. The fact is composition, at its finest, is about choice. It’s also about selection. In fact, deciding what to paint is probably one of the most important decisions a painter can make. The question is how can the choice improve or get better?

First, I think reading about composition is helpful. I have shared that I am studying Edgar Payne’s book entitled “Composition of Outdoor Painting.” (Amazon Affiliate link) This book has beautiful painting’s by Payne as well as clear terminology to help define different types of composition. And, there are numerous types including “Steelyard” and “Silhouette” and “Group” and more.

But what I am finding is that even with this knowledge, there comes a point with every painting where I (you) (we) have to make a choice. And, within that choice you make a selection. So how do we improve the choices that we make so that we make the best selection possible?

What Helps Choice

Heads up I am not going to share a ‘secret squirrel’ composition formula for ya. Darn, right? But I am going to share some of the consistent thinking and practices that seem to help me with composition.

First, breathe. Second, look around you and think about what makes you express your authentic self. In my case, I love going on walks everyday. And, I love looking at what’s right in front of me on those walks: trees, birds, leaves, feathers, stones. Pretty much without fail, I find something on that walk, pick it up and bring it home. In fact, you should see our kitchen compost bin. In addition to veggies and fruit scraps, there are leaves, twigs and other found objects that have dried up, withered, seen better days.

Anyway, my next step is to arrange the thing and look at it through a viewfinder. (Amazon affiliate link). This step can take some time. I move things around. Reevaluate. Repeat. I listen to the feeling in my gut. Once that feels right, I get my pencil and sketch book out. I draw at least three versions of the size (square, rectangle, etc) of the surface upon which I’ll draw. I confess I used to do these compositional sketches…impatiently. But now I find this part is so helpful.

Here’s a photo of the setup I used for today’s painting.

You may look at this set up and think “Ha! Easy Peasey!” But I can tell you I started off with three leaves I found on my walk this morning. I really wanted to include all three in today’s painting. But these objects behaved like three siblings who were totally annoyed with each other. They did not want to play nice.

Ultimate Choice

Ultimately, I narrowed my painting subject down to one leaf. And, I thought about a painting misfire I had last week. In that painting, I wasn’t brave about cropping. I included the entire object but felt it may have been a bit too close to the top of the painting. I called it Missed Opportunity. This week I got brave and left a part of the leaf off of the composition (or the edge of the paper). I think I could have cropped even more of the leaf and perhaps made it larger. But, it was fun to think about last week’s work and improve upon it. The wonderful thing about this week’s choice is it felt considered and enjoyable.

So to sum it all up, here are steps you can take to improve the choices you make in your work. Breathe, look, arrange, listen, practice, paint or BLALPP! How’s that for a goofy acronym? Try it!

Your Choice

What about you gentle reader? What do you find helps you compose well? I would love to hear in the comments below.