Composition and Perspective with Ed Kennedy

“Pleasing design or a balanced pictoral plan is chief among the requisites of all fine paintings.  A picture needs a solid foundation.  We would not build a house without a well thought out preliminary plan or a substantial footing in the soil.”

 Edgar Payne – Composition of Outdoor Painting

Composition is the structure used to unify a painting.  Without structure the feeling of unity or balance is destroyed and the work is inevitably doomed to mediocrity.  In this class we will explore several common compositional armatures such as the “rule of thirds”, an “S curve”, a cross and a “Steelyard” and how to apply them in your own paintings.  We will also review the sometimes difficult concept of perspective.  Here we will learn about one and two point perspective, the use of overlapping shapes and how to use these concepts to add depth to your painting.  A better understanding of these elements will help advance your paintings to the next level.

Materials

Oil, Acrylic, water color, gouache, pastel, etc.  Use something you are comfortable with and may already have.  Sufficient paper or canvas for several small studies (3” x 4”) to explore these concepts.  These will be studies not finished works.  They are purely intended for exploration only.  Expensive materials are not required.

Reference images:

Bring several photographs of images you would like to paint.  Photos can be printed, or on a tablet or phone.  Printed is preferred.  Please make sure your device is charged if you will be using a phone or tablet as your reference.