Studying Composition

Studying Richard McKinley's book:  'The Landscape Paintings of Richard McKinley'

Every serious artist that I know spends time looking at other artists' work, studying technique, composition and design and trying new things.   Lately, I've undertaken a study of composition, based on what I've learned from Ian Roberts' book 'Mastering Composition'.  It's one of my all time favorite art instruction books and I keep coming back to it. 

One of Ian's suggestions is to study a piece and do a little composition sketch of what's going on in it.  I've been studying dozens of artists and looking at hundreds of paintings, doing these little sketches of the paintings I like best. 

In the pic above you can see my little sketch of a piece by Richard McKinley in red sharpie on the top left.   This page also happened to give Richard's own working sketches as well. 

As I do this, over and over and over, to paintings that are pleasing to me, I am seeing patterns that help me think about my own work.  Since I am able to abstract a visual pattern, I can then plug in the subjects that I am interested in painting, knowing that the structure under the whole thing is a visually pleasing one.

Here's an example of how I use these.   This is a painting by Geoff Kersey.   My sketch is to the right [red sharpie]. 

painting:  Geoff Kersey

I can take that same basic structure and put my own spin on it, like I did in this practice piece I did for #paintrainforAustralia [Instagram]. 

© Robin Edmundson, 'Paint Rain for Australia',  9 x 12 inches. 

I'm hoping that this intensive study of composition will allow me to really internalize this skill so that it is unconscious. If I'm not worrying about composition, then I can focus on technique or color or subject or something else. 

What new skill have you been studying lately?

Split Roof & Grassy Bales

© Robin Edmundson, 'Split Roof, Grassy Bales',  watercolor, 10 x 14 inches. 

This place is not far from us, at the bottom of a hill in a damp, sheltered spot.   The bales often sprout before they're used for winter feed.  The old tractor shed's roof split a couple of years ago when we had several heavy snows in a short time.   It's quiet and peaceful.  Even in the winter, the grass stays green for a long time there. 

I studied this barn for a long time before I painted it. I routinely do a few versions of a piece to get a feel for color, shapes and light.    Here are a couple of practice pieces:

I may try to do it again as a snow scene.  I'll keep you posted.