A Brush With Art.pdf

Design and CompositionIhave called this section Design and Compositionbecause to me, in painting, they mean exactly thesame thing. This is to say, the positioning ofobjects on paper in a 'happy' way that enables youto tell a story visually to the onlooker.Let us start with a very old system I was taughtat art school, which is now second nature to me.Use it as a good rule of thumb, but remember thatoccasional unexpected deviations can also makeinteresting and original pictures. In Fig. 1, 1 havedivided the paper into thirds, vertically andhorizontally, in the same way as lines have beenprinted on my picture finder on page 39. The fourpoints at which these lines cross (shown as A, B,C and D) are accepted as the four places on apainting where the focal point is best positioned.Therefore, if your centre of interest is positionedon or around a focal point, you should have agood design. Figs. 2 to 5 show how I used thechurch steeple at Harpford to design differentpictures using different focal points.Another basic design, where the centre ofinterest is positioned in the top part of a pyramid.Fig. 1is shown in Fig. 6. I based Brixham Harbour, onpages 78-79, on this design.When you are sketching, start by putting inyour centre of interest at your chosen focal point,then work away from it. You will find that nature'slines (hedgerows, rivers, roads and so on), ifobserved carefully, will help bring the picturetogether and form a natural design. To start with,put in everything you see. Later, experience willtell you what, if anything, to leave out. And don'tbe tempted to distort a view to get more on toyour sketchbook. If you do, the design and theobjects in relation to each other will look wrong.Fig. 2 focal point B Fig. 3 focal point CFig. 4 focal point A Fig. 5 focal point D Fig. 6 pyramidArl