Buoys  - 12"x12" oil on canvas

When a painting catches your eye from across the room, it may well be the bright colors that have attracted your attention.

But I believe once you walk over and take a good look, it’s a solid composition that will keep your attention.

A composition is more than a line drawing, it’s about shapes, how they fit together, and their values (how dark and light they are).

Delivering the Catch - 9"x12" oil on canvas panel

What does composition do for the painting? A good composition will let your eyes move around in the painting, discovering more as you go. It neither pulls your eye outside the painting or lets it get stuck anywhere inside the painting.

What makes  a composition interesting? Asymmetry! It turns out that our brains like asymmetry. That’s why you see design pundits recommending an odd number of objects in a still life, and an uneven spacing of objects as well. The rule of thirds in landscape painting comes from this (more about that later).

Summer Marsh - 8"x10" oil, knife, on panel
see below for photo cropping options

How does the painter create a solid composition? When composing, whether from life or from a photo, we pay attention to a few guidelines like those above, and when we break them, we do it consciously and make up for it in some other way. For example, in general, placing an object smack dab in the middle of a painting isn’t a great idea. But if the area around the object can have lots of asymmetry, all is still well. Shadows in still life paintings are great for this.

Pears in Blue - 6"x6" oil on canvas panel
the asymmetry of the shadows make up for the two objects placed in the center

What a focal points? That’s a term we hear a lot. A focal point occurs when there is a sharp (not blended) edge that has a strong contrast of light and dark on either side. The truth is, there will almost always be at least one focal point in any photograph or painting, and likely more than one. The trick is to place them where you want them and not let them be stoppers for the eye.

Two crops of the same image showing the horizon 1/3 from the top and 1/3 from the bottom - applying the rule of thirds

What tools do artists use to create a good composition? For a still life, we can arrange the objects and the point of view (whether looking straight at the objects, or down or up at them) as we like. We are composing in the creation of the set up. For landscapes, the rule of thirds, which recommends placing the horizon and focal points a third of the way from the edges of the painting, is helpful. Cropping, whether painting outside or from a photo is key. I recommend not doing it with your camera, because you limit your options later when actually in front of the canvas.

Simple perspective applied to the exterior and interior of a house

Perspective is also part of composition, it’s what lets us place a three dimensional scene onto a two dimensional surface like paper or canvas. Basic perspective isn’t hard to understand, and will take you a long way.

Thumbnail composition options for a poinsettia painting

The most useful tool when composing is the thumbnail sketch. That approach with a pencil or markers, and three or four values, lets you try out your design quickly, before committing in paint. It’s a good idea to try two or three options for any painting. And it's an idea that I don’t always follow, leading to many lessons learned!

A Clean Glass - 6"x6" oil on panel

We’ve all probably made some New Year’s resolutions over the years. My favorite is to learn more about wine, and I make that resolution every year. But beyond that one, I prefer to focus on opportunities rather than resolutions.

Marsh From the Bridge - 8"x10" oil on panel
Final Assignment in my Beginner Oil Painting Class

I’m almost always up for opportunities to learn something new. And there are so many ways to learn these days. We can take in-person classes or live Zoom classes in everything from fitness to painting to playing a musical instrument. There are also self-paced online classes and YouTube videos. Teaching with Zoom has been a great addition to my practice. It means that people who don't live nearby can join my classes. I've made some wonderful new friends with this expanded audience.

Demo of rocks from  one of my live zoom classes in 2023

There are so many learning opportunities available to each of us. From hobbies to personal growth, fitness, sports, and jobs, I can't count them all. And they are more accessible than ever. Perhaps we have pandemic ingenuity to thank for that.

I teach painting both online and in person. Online, I have self-paced  classes in addition to live Zoom classes. I restrict those to 6 students at a time, so that everyone gets personal attention. And I also teach plein air workshops in person. My students have particularly enjoyed those in Yarmouth, Monhegan Island, and Provence.