Here's another brushed-off and slightly polished post from four years ago. And the one four years ago was a relaunch from 2015. That's how important I think the subject is.
What goes into composing a work of art? Is it just an arrangement of shapes and values? Some folks seem to have that idea, but I consider every decision and
every mark we make as a part of the composing process. Here's one of my paintings done in early summer nine years ago.
Here it is in a different kind of light.
This says to me that even the palette of colors we select is a part of the composing process. Next, some of the brushstrokes are smoothed out.
So far, we've not done a thing to the arrangement of shapes and values, yet each of these variations has given us a different kind of composition,
another interpretation. In the second revision, even the brushstrokes play a role in how it was composed.
Then what about our choice of season?
This time I modified the season to early fall rather than early summer. The meaning of the painting has been altered. So that tells me that in landscape painting, even
the selection of the season is a part of the composing process.
Okay. Let's redo the light/shadow pattern and see what happens.
Still a different composition.
Here are all five versions together. Notice how each version has a different expression, even though the shapes and values have remained the
same
Composing is not just about shapes and arranging, but about every choice and every stroke we make. It's about the how the various
components of color behave, how the tools we're using communicate, how we orchestrate every element of the process.
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Enjoy an enlightening weekend!
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