Thursday, April 14, 2016

The importance of composition #2

Since my last blog entry I finished a painting called 'Little Evening Cloud'. It has a few similarities with the previous painting I made (blog entry March 31), but also a number of differences. This one is dominated by strong horizontals, not only in the horizon itself (surprise), but also in the clouds directly above it and in the sea. And though it's not exactly symmetric, it smells like symmetry. In contrast to this the previous painting is a-symmetric and has strong diagonals. Take a look.

Little Evening Cloud, oil on panel, 120 x 90 cm


Evening Clouds, oil on paper, 30 x 40 cm

What's the visual effect of these differences? Movement. The Little Evening Cloud is stable and quiet, while the oil sketch is dynamic and has more depth. Some theoretics claim that realist art has benefited greatly from abstract art. They might have a point. Concepts like composition, rhythm and negative shapes became part of the world of realist art only after the twentieth century abstract movement. Even a painter like me owes a lot to Mr. Mondriaan. Funny, eh?  



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