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This series began with exploring why we artists paint. There was a time in my late teens and early twenties when I questioned the purpose of a visual artist. Who needs more pretty pictures? 

But as my path led me into discovering more about the hearts and souls of master painters, I realized that we are not making pretty pictures, but we are expressing life itself through our work. Whatever our preferred genre or mode of expression, the act of composing is what conveys meaning to the viewer.  

Both these subjects feature people, but each painting's expression is totally unique.  Every element each artist used contributes to that expression.

Frankly, the word composition has been run into the ground.  Too often it has been used as a goal for artists to strive to meet.  But that's dead wrong:  The composing process is the heartbeat of the painting.  It is a live action, not a goal or set of criteria.

Composing is far more than just arranging shapes and values.  Every brushstroke we make becomes a part of the process.  Even the preliminary work we do is a part of it, down to choosing our subject.  

Composing begins with the conception of the idea, continues through preliminary studies and doesn't stop until the painting is finished.

WHAT WE ARE DOING WHEN WE COMPOSE

While we are composing, we are translating, transposing, or inventing, and often combining these.  When we are translating, we are responding to what we see through our eyes and our perception.  When we are transposing, we are shifting what we see into our mode of interpretation.  When we are inventing, we are diverging from the visual world or expectations to what we imagine.

We use visual tools to do these things, tools such as balancing, harmonizing, organizing, unifying and creating rhythm.  These tools use our visual elements to make them work.  The materials we use are a part of this process, too. They all work together to bring forth a painting--something new that has never before been seen.