provides tips for engaging the viewer in a composition
We all look for interesting subjects for our paintings, but finding something interesting is only half the battle. For the painting to engage the viewer, hold their attention and trigger some sort of emotional response, we must do more than simply document what we see. I always ask myself “What is it that makes me want to paint this subject?” The answer is usually less to do with the subject and more to do with some abstract, emotional response to what I am looking at. Take a group of weathered buildings on a Venetian Canal for example. Sure, the buildings are interesting enough, but the rising dampness, crumbling plaster and fading paint all work hard to interrupt the grand formality of the architecture. It is this contradiction of man-made beauty and a thousand years of chaotic natural forces that really make these buildings interesting. Exaggerating, emphasizing and editing to capture that feeling of nature slowly destroying man’s best attempt at beauty makes a much more interesting painting than simply copying the subject in front of you. Whatever the subject, try to find the associated factors that identify and define it. These factors can then be manipulated to squeeze so much more from your subject than just a likeness.