**** Keith O'Connor on Composition
just....@gmail.com
> Mani - your kidding!!
>
> the role of the circle - and this is not a complete circle - it is
located
> close to the lower left corner and cut off by the bottom - the
location of
> the circle is in standard compositional position - mani you should
know
> this stuff.
Mr. O'connor, (or Mesken & others)
what is standard compositional position?
what i mean by 'composition', or understand it to be, is the placement
of the subject(s) + objects + lighting in relation to one another
within the canvas. i have noticed that there is a long standing
technique/trick that artist use in their paintings to compensate for
composition. if painting a portrait i notice they darken and lighten
different areas of the background to 'give' or add composition. what i
cannot put my finger on is how they know where to lighten and darken?
is there a basic 'cookie cutter' pattern used in relation to the
subject(s) and area of canvas?
or is my interpretation of 'composition completely off?
keith o'connor
general - as far as portraits are concerned - form lighting is key - form
lighting is not natural lighting - design in terms of planes is also a major
factor - portraits that stress an accumulation of individual differences as
a means of providing visual identity of the sitter are in contrast to those
portraits that stress universal structures overlaid by a few personally
identifying characteristics of the sitter relate the sitter to membership in
the human race but possessing some individual characteristics - these stress
psychological attributes more than technical mirror the image type of
portrait.
an artist's awareness of composition is an accumulation of compositional
ideas gleaned from thousands of years of art history - it is not a specific
formula but more dynamic changing as circumstances change - the following
books contain compositional ideas - each reader will accept some and reject
others - as the years go by you may accept some that you previously
rejected - you change.
frederic thaubes - the anatomy of genius - also wrote others
rudolf arnheim -art and visual perception - also wrote others
arthur wesley dow - composition
andre lhote - treatise on landscape painting - theory of figure painting -
both excellent
there are many others but that i think this is a reasonable start list.
art is a language not just a style or a school - visual art is closer to
poetry in its expression of emotion - many artists swing between visual art
and poetry.
--
take care: Keith
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just....@gmail.com
compositional
> ideas gleaned from thousands of years of art history - it is not a
specific
> formula but more dynamic changing as circumstances change
so does this in a sense explain an evolution from cave man drawings to
the mona lisa to dali? i remember being a young lad an i was drawing a
scrawl of a barn and my teacher taught me hoow i could draw the lines
to make the ladder for the barn look at an angle as the barn was. and
i suppose i do study other artists, sense i do look at the paintings
and try to disect them in a sense and turn their picture into paint and
then blocks so that i can understand how they took raw material and
created this image. thanks keith.
keith o'connor
to provide a solution to an artistic problem - clearly define your problem
then tell your executive (your personal mental advisor way up there in your
head) to find the solution - in a few hours, days, weeks, the answer will
pop into your conscious mind - i do that kind of thing she said - now do it
deliberately i said.
--
take care: Keith
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