REVERSE EVERYTHING!?! I find that the notion of unfolding* is probably the most important aspect of compositional structure but also the thorniest to communicate. First, because its not easy to understand why it works. And second because it antithetical to everything you think you want a painting to do. Strangely it is the deconstruction of […]
Chardin and the Rayfish
This is a beautiful Chardin and its about time for a still life painting. These are my choice for the three main diagonals. Number two follows one side of the ray fish head and the ladle handle. One follows the other side of the ray fish’s head and the two main oysters on the table. […]
Claude Lorraine
Finding the Main Angles Finding the main angles in a composition might seem like a bit of a mystery. But I think there are cues to be found in the work, really a kind of notation, often in the form of a small object that references the angles. This Claude is an interesting example. […]
John Constable Awesomeness…
Flatford Mill I sent this image to a grad student not too long ago, and happened upon it again today. I started playing around with a study and before long my brain was doing somersaults, it is so much fun! The painting is sort of overloaded with detail and at first you might think it’s […]
John Constable and Landscape Space
As a young student, John Constable spent the summer of 1800 sketching in the park of Helmingham in Suffolk, England. In the 1820s he returned to his pen and ink drawing and worked it into full-size oil paintings. Dell at Helmingham Park, at one time owned by the art collector John G. Johnson, was […]