Sunday, 21 August 2022

Drawing and Painting the Landscape – Compositional Principles

Farm Cottages - Latest Thumbnail - 7cm x 10cm (2.75" x 4")
Compositional Principles - Drawing and Painting the Landscape

Ink and Watercolour on Paper
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook

The bulk of Lesson 33 of  Drawing and Painting the Landscape by Philip Tyler is a review of John Ruskin’s 9 laws of composition from The Elements of Drawing:

  • Principality
  • Repetition
  • Continuity
  • Curvature
  • Radiation
  • Contrast
  • Interchange
  • Consistency
  • Harmony

Phillip sneaks in a couple of extras. Stillness might be accepted unchallenged, but Photo Manipulation isn’t getting on to a list published in 1857.

The exercise for the lesson involves taking as many different photos of a subject as possible and then making a series of compositional studies. 

I selected some local cottages and took a load of photos. My initial experiments concerned the placement of the major horizontal divisions. I tried a few different arrangements before settling on the first one; which is often the way. The next step was a small thumbnail to explore where the buildings fitted into this schema and some initial ideas about tone. 

Farm Cottages - Initial Thumbnails - Each 3.5cm x 5cm (1.5" x 2")
Compositional Principles - Drawing and Painting the Landscap
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Ink on Paper
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook

Then I moved on to slightly bigger thumbnails to investigate the drawing, tones and colours. 

Farm Cottages - Thumbnails - Each 7cm x 10cm (2.75" x 4")
Compositional Principles - Drawing and Painting the Landscape

Ink, Watercolour and Graphite on Paper
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook
These studies didn't enthuse me, so I tried a few more small drawings to find a less central placement for the buildings.

Farm Cottages - Off-centre Thumbnails - Each 3.5cm x 5cm (1.5" x 2")
Compositional Principles - Drawing and Painting the Landscape

Ink on Paper
Stillman & Birn Alpha Series Sketchbook

The drawing at the top of the post investigates colour and tone for the repositioned buildings. I also plan to create some texture in the foreground and add some small flashes of bold colour in the focal point amongst the buildings.

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