All too often as artists, we are seduced into attempting to paint the “grand vista.” We set our easel down and immediately set to work without really having considered all the possibilities that lie before us. In our haste, we don’t don’t really think about composition and what it is has attracted us to the scene or object in the first place. Only after we have laboured for a couple of hours do we realize that all is not well , throw our hands up in despair and wish we had left this bit out , included something else, or had a completely different format altogether.

So I stress to my students the value of making preliminary compositional sketches, no matter how small and get them to compare and contrast these. I try to get them to actually “see” what they are looking at. I even suggest that they might wish to change their position and angle of view. And most importantly I reassure them that they don’t have to paint absolutely everything in sight!

Here we can learn a lot from the art of photography. Many is the time I have watched how my friend Phillip Dunne, a professional photographer and teacher, explores his subject and observes things I would have probably walked past. It would be nice if some of his skills are rubbing off on me!

In my last blog, I included a photograph of on old rotting timber boat beached like a whale. I loved the play of  light on it  and the beautiful shapes it made.

But wandering round this wreck, lots of other possibilities for paintings came to the fore. “I don’t have to include the whole boat. Let me try a bit of cropping and see how it looks”. I then focused on the bow, as below.

“Perhaps I can crop even closer?  What effect will that create? “

Interesting? More dramatic?

I took a couple of other shots to add to my compositional ideas for painting.

The beautiful curve of the stern appealed , as did the dramatic shadows and bright blue sky.

Finally, I moved in really close to take an almost abstract shot of the hull, with its weathered timbers , rusting ladder and pattern of

cast shadows.

As I hope I have demonstrated, every object or subject has an endless range of possibilities to explore. So take time, observe and plan before grabbing the paint brush.

If you enjoyed these photographs and find they help you to create a painting or drawing, why not let me have a photograph of the finished work and I will post it here on the blog? It would be lovely to see your pictures.