How Do YOU Study Composition?

 Composition is the one aspect of painting that I am most often asked about, so I am continually evolving my approach to teaching it. There are many ways to explore composition. Cut paper collage is one of my favorites because it is very direct, and it is accessible to any level of technical skill. 

 Join me for a Technique Takeaway on Zoom, Friday, December 17, 5:00 - 6:30 pm Eastern Time.

See details at Winslow Art Center, and sign up here.  

Composition with Cut Paper Collage!

 

COLOR!!! For Cut Paper Collage

 Join me on zoom for a Technique Takeaway, hosted by Winslow Art Center. 

To make strong images in cut paper collage, it's best to start with a HUGE palette of painted papers. This includes all the colors around the color wheel - red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, and everything in between - and a broad range of values - very light, very dark, and everything in between.

I've noticed that when painting papers for collage most of us default to the mid-range values. Lighter values are often omitted. To make light values, start with white, add a tiny bit of color, mix thoroughly, and then paint a sample. Acrylic paint generally dries a bit darker than it is wet, so mix it to look lighter than you want.

Finally, make sure you have a range of neutrals - beige and gray, colors that you would not assign to a spot around the color wheel - in a range of values, and muted colors, again in various values. If this sounds like a lot of work instead of a lot of fun, do something else. I find painting solid colors on paper very soothing and at the same time enlightening.

Friday, December 17th,5 - 6:30 EASTERN Time (2:00 - 3:30 Pacific)

Cut paper collage is a powerful tool for exploring some elements of composition. In Composition with Cut Paper Collage we will first focus on this broad palette.

Composition with Cut Paper Collage

 Join me on zoom for a Technique Takeaway, hosted by Winslow Art Center.

Friday, December 17th,5 - 6:30 EASTERN Time (2:00 - 3:30 Pacific)

Cut paper collage is a powerful tool for exploring some elements of composition. In Composition with Cut Paper Collage I will show you how to use this simple technique to better understand shape, scale, negative space, color, and value.

Find details and sign up here.

The following are examples of student work, all-over layouts, nothing glued down.

More Thoughts on Composition

 I have been thinking a lot about composition lately because it is one topic that most of my students ask about. "When do you worry about composition?",  "Is it a composition?", "What about the Rule of Thirds?", "It is pleasing to the eye, but is it a good composition?"

The questions beg other questions. 

• Why worry? I don't worry, I just compose. That is the process, and it involves trying things, changing them, painting over things, suggesting something to the painting and then seeing if the painting accepts it or not. Composing is constant hypothesizing and questioning. Trying things, editing, revising, building, deconstructing. This is composing.
  
• How can marks on a page not be a composition? "These I just made, followed your instructions; this other one I tried to make a composition".  Comment from a student in a recent workshop, not uncommon. They are all compositions. You have composed all of them.
  
•  What if you don't apply the Rule of Thirds, whatever that is? Anything that calls itself a rule is begging to be challenged. Try out the opposite, or something different from, the rule in question. SEE what happens, rather than just taking the rule as a Rule.
  
•  Pleasing to whose eye? "Pleasing to the eye" is often used to mean "I like it". Own your personal taste. Don't project onto others. To me, "pleasing to the eye" suggests that the artist is trying to please an audience. It's great when people like your work, but what matters most is that your work  speaks to you. Then you know it is your work, and what you send out into the world is real.
  

Below are two pieces that I will be demonstrating in my Technique Takeaway, Composition as Process.

This 90-minute demonstration and discussion is online, via ZOOM, hosted by Winslow Art Center. 

Friday, August 27

5:00 - 6:30 Eastern Time, 2:00 - 3:30 Pacific Time

Sign up here.

I will walk you through my compositional process on the above two pieces and more. This is not an analysis of the finished pieces themselves, but a peek into my thoughts on composition as I am composing. The above two pieces are paintings. I will be including at least one collage piece as well, so you can learn how I think through that process as well. There will be intermittent Q&A during this demonstration. If you can't make it to the live ZOOM event, sign up anyway and you will get access to the video. Find out more here.

Layering and Excavating: Working the Surface

 If you missed last week's zoom mini-workshop on Layering and Excavating, you can now purchase access to the video recording of it. Click here to buy it.

This is one of the pieces demonstrated in Layering and Excavating. Learn how to layer with transparent paints using a squeegee, create fog with opaque paint, carve lines through alcohol-softened paint, and more. Click here for access.

Free Live Demo with Q&A

 I am offering a FREE DEMO at Winslow Art Center on Tuesday, March 23. This is part of a series of freebees Winslow is offering next week, in their "Spring Fling".

Slack Tide #6, 11"x14" acrylic on paper

I filmed the process of painting this image, which I will narrate live on Zoom, sharing my thoughts on composition, as well as tools and tips. I will take questions as well. Hope to see you there.

Even though it is free, you do have to sign up for this session. See details and sign up here.