Drawing and Painting the Landscape – Rule of Thirds

 

St Ives Harbour - Buildings - Rule of Thirds

Lesson 32 of  Drawing and Painting the Landscape by Philip Tyler is about the rule of thirds - a popular technique for composing visual images. The “rule” divides a scene into thirds (both horizontally and vertically) using two equally spaced horizontal lines and two equally spaced vertical lines. Aligning important elements of a picture along these lines or at their intersections is supposed to create more visual interest than placing the subject at the centre.

Rule of Thirds Grid

Philip suggests exploring the rule of thirds in your compositions. As an exercise, I tried to improve the two images I picked in the Root Rectangle exercise. I used a rule of thirds and a phi grid to refine the selections - a phi grid is like a rule of thirds grid except it divides the image according to the Divine Proportion resulting in grid lines that are closer together; which in turn moves the more important elements of your picture closer to the centre.

Phi Grid

I looked at over 20 different options for each scene and ended up with selections almost identical to the ones I picked in the original exercise.

St Ives Harbour - Boats - Rule of Thirds

In both cases I favour images in which the lower third is a foreground of empty sand. As I work on the pictures some more, I may try to include some extra details and contrast at some of the points of intersection.

Sunrise

Sunrise
Watercolour on Paper
12cm x 16.5cm (4.75" x 6.5")

Sunrise is the seventh topic in the Skies and Weather chapter of Creating Textures in Pen & Ink with Watercolor by Claudia Nice.

Claudia observes 

Traditionally the sunrise has been thought of as pastel and delicate. In truth the sunrise can rival the sunset in colouration.

This matches my experiences – I’ve seen some spectacular sunrises – but not very many - I am usually asleep. I should make more effort to get up to draw and paint in the early morning. Sunrise is an easier time to draw and paint than sunset because at sunset you are racing to finish before it gets dark - at sunrise you can always finish off from memory as the sky gets lighter.

This is another sky based on a Javid Tabatabaei demonstration - How to paint sky in watercolor painting. This one was a learning experience, this picture is my twelfth attempt at the sky and there is still room for improvement. It is critical to have the right relative intensity of yellow and blue (and the right pigments), so you don’t end up with green. Then there is the timing of the different layers – waiting until the sky has just the right amount of wetness before adding the clouds. Javid’s clouds look much more natural than mine – which is something for me to work on.

Working from Life

 

Green Pepper
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
8.9cm x 14.0cm (3.5" x 5.5")

Katherine Tyrrell on the Making a Mark blog reminded me that  I am not drawing from life enough (see Making a Mark - How to describe art). 

Nibbles
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
8.9cm x 14.0cm (3.5" x 5.5")

Katherine points out the importance some artists put on drawing from life each day. Sadly, I couldn’t remember the last time I had drawn from life. 

Mmm Succulent
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0cm x 8.9cm (5.5" x 3.5")

To rectify this, I have been drawing at least a couple of line and wash sketches from life each week. 

Cheeky Gin
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0cm x 8.9cm (5.5" x 3.5")

To make this as easy as possible (both psychologically and physically), I am working in a small sketchbook (14.0cm x 8.9cm / 5.5” x 3.5”) using water brushes and a titchy half pan watercolour set. The kit is very portable and it means I can blame any deficiencies on my tools.

How Big?
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
8.9cm x 14.0cm (3.5" x 5.5")

I've never liked water brushes but I am getting on with them better since I’ve realised the importance of keeping them loaded with paint. 

Old Technology
Ink and Watercolour
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
14.0cm x 8.9cm (5.5" x 3.5")

I plan to keep up the ink and wash and to include some pencil and charcoal sketches - which will allow for more thoughtful studies - and less room to blame my tools.

Drawing and Painting the Landscape – Root Rectangles

 

St Ives Harbour - Root-4 Rectangle

Lesson 31 of  Drawing and Painting the Landscape by Philip Tyler is another lesson about composition with a foundation in mathematics. 

Wikipedia defines a root rectangle as 

A rectangle in which the ratio of the longer side to the shorter is the square root of an integer, such as √2, √3, etc..

Phillip explains how to draw a root-2 rectangle (√2 rectangle) by starting with a square, measuring the diagonal and extending two opposite sides to be the length of the diagonal. 

Root-2 Rectangle

You can then draw a root-3 rectangle by measuring the diagonal of the root-2 rectangle and extending the long sides to be the length of this diagonal.

Root-3 Rectangle

You draw a root-4 rectangle by extending the longer sides to be the length of the root-3 rectangle’s diagonal, and so on.

One of the interesting properties of root rectangles is:

If you divide a root-N rectangle along its long side into N equal subdivisions, all the little rectangles are also root-N rectangles, for example, if you divide a root-5 rectangle into 5 equal slices, all the little rectangles are also root-5 rectangles

Root-5 Rectangle with Subdivisions

Some people believe this symmetry is a thing of beauty and provides a good underlying structure for the composition of a picture (if you are interested, check out the Wikipedia article - Dynamic rectangle). 

Philp points out the paper sizes in the A series (A0, A1, A2, A3, A4, etc) are all root-2 rectangles. If you divide a root-2 rectangle in half, both halves are also root-2 rectangles. Cut a piece of A0 in half and you have 2 pieces of A1, cut a piece of A1 in half and you have 2 pieces of A2, and so on.

A Paper

Phillip suggests a sketchbook exercise creating a series of compositions in squares and different root rectangles. I did a slightly different exercise. I took a holiday photograph which isn't an obvious candidate to paint.

St Ives Harbour - Source Photo

I searched this picture for squares and root rectangles that have the most promise as paintings. My favourites are the image at the top of the post and this one.

St Ives Harbour - Square

I will refine and improve them in the next lessons.

Sunset

 

Javid's Sunset
Watercolour on Paper
12cm x 16.5cm (4.75" x 6.5")

Sunset is the sixth topic in the Skies and Weather chapter of Creating Textures in Pen & Ink with Watercolor by Claudia Nice.

Once again I cross referenced Claudia’s advice with a section in James Gurney’s Color and Light (A Guide for the Realist Painter). I also watched a YouTube video about painting sunsets by Javid Tabatabaei - How to paint sunset and landscape in watercolor. The picture at the top of the post is my version of Javid’s painting. I watched his video in short segments in one room and ran in to another to work on my painting. Elaine asked me to turn off the sound. If you watch the video, you will understand why.

West Pier Sunset
Watercolour on Paper
12cm x 16.5cm (4.75" x 6.5")

This is a view of the approach to the ruined West Pier in Brighton from some photos I took in 2007. I sent the best part of a year working in Brighton – I’ve had worse jobs.

Porth Mellon Sunset
Watercolour on Paper
12cm x 16.5cm (4.75" x 6.5")

This is a view from Porth Mellon beach on St Marys (Isles of Scilly) from some photos I took in 2014. Elaine and I were walking to Juliet’s Garden for dinner.

Drawing and Painting the Landscape - The Divine Proportion

Divine Mousehole Harbour

Lesson 30 of  Drawing and Painting the Landscape by Philip Tyler is about the Divine Proportion – probably the most aesthetically beautiful division of a line in the world. 

The Divine Proportion has many pseudonyms: the golden ratio, the golden section, the golden mean, the golden proportion, the golden cut, the golden number, the divine section, phi, etc, etc. 

If you want to learn more, Wikipedia has an article  (see Golden ratio).

Philip defines the divine proportion:

It is the division of a line into two parts, where the small part relates to the bigger as the bigger part relates to the whole.

This is what it looks like - and some equations for good measure

The Divine Proportion

Philip explains how to draw a golden rectangle (a rectangle with side lengths in the golden ratio) by starting off with a square and adding on a rectangle - using a ruler, setsquare and compass.

Drawing a Golden Rectangle

The interesting thing is, the rectangle we add on is also a golden rectangle because golden rectangles exhibit a form of self-similarity.

If we start off with a golden rectangle, and add a square to its long side, we end up with another golden rectangle

Another Golden Rectangle

Add another square to its long side, we end up with another golden rectangle

And Another

And so, on

Golden Spiral (Approximate)

Look familiar? (see Drawing and Painting the Landscape - What is the proportion of the rectangle?)

Philip suggests analysing some of your favourite landscapes to see if key parts of the composition conform to the divine proportion.

I studied quite a few pictures - new and old. I didn’t find a lot of correlations. One of the panels was almost a golden rectangle. 

The Beach at Trouville (with a Golden Rectangle)
Eugène Boudin
From Wikimedia Commons

The placement of the sun in Monet's "Impression, Sunrise" divides both the horizontal and vertical almost perfectly by their divine proportion.

Impression, Sunrise (with a Phi Grid)
Claude Monet
From Wikimedia Commons

That was about it. This analysis of historic paintings didn’t convince me that the great artists made/make use of the divine proportion, but as an exercise I applied it to a photo I am using as the source for a painting. 

Mousehole Harbour

I thought the composition of the photo was pretty good – lose some of the boats close to the left-hand side – job done. I investigated a lot of different crops using a phi grid to apply the divine proportion. Zooming in, aligning the strong horizontal under the buildings with the upper divine proportion and the major boats with the left-hand divine proportion gives (for me) a more pleasing composition (see the photo at the top of the post). I will emphasise these alignments some more in my preparatory sketches.

Snow

Snow
Watercolour on Paper
12cm x 16.5cm (4.75" x 6.5")

Snow is the fifth topic in the Skies and Weather chapter of Creating Textures in Pen & Ink with Watercolor by Claudia Nice.

I cross referenced Claudia’s advice with a section on Snow and Ice in the Atmospheric Effects chapter in James Gurney’s Color and Light (A Guide for the Realist Painter). 

The first painting is based on some photos I took on the outskirts of Swindon back in January 2013. I drew the snow-covered tree trunks with masking fluid before starting the painting. Claudia suggests adding salt crystals to a wash to create snowflakes – I mistimed the application because the snowflakes are not particularly prominent.

Snow 2
Watercolour on Paper
12cm x 16.5cm (4.75" x 6.5")

The second picture is based (loosely) on one of James’ studies. This time, I created the light tree trunks on the darker background by applying the paint and partially scraping it off before it dried.