Composition in a Plein Air Painting

February 3, 2010

The Meagen Garrett by Robert J. Simone 8 x 10, oil-linen

This small plein air painting was posted in a previous blog. I keep it in my studio because I enjoy it’s company. It was painted during the Crescent Beach event in October 2009. There’s a funny story that goes with it…Upon arriving in the area I set course for the city of St. Augustine in search of marine subjects. The boatyards and marinas along Riberia St. are where sailing, yachting and commercial vessels moor. I found an old shrimp boat which presented a nice view of her port bow (that’s the left front). “Late in the day she’ll be mostly back lit”, I thought. “Clouds should build up by then, too.” I asked the dock master about her. “That ol’ thing?”, he said with certainty. “Never goes anywhere. She’s been there for months!” Receiving permission to paint, I checked the time and figured to come back in couple of hours. Return I did. The scene was unfolding! Beautiful clouds floated over the waterway! The sun moved southwest and low in the sky! I was just in time to wave goodbye to my shrimp boat as she motored away. Gone fishin’, as they say. Heart sunken I came about and noticed this beautiful tug who offered her stout stern, flowing gunwale and aft cabin door. How could I resist.

Let’s revisit the thread we started on composition. There was a post on armatures, one on main line and a third on centralizing interest. How does this tugboat painting make use of those concepts?

The abstract design construct or armature is called a “grouping”. It’s simple concept that is often used in still life paintings. It doesn’t require too much imagination to see this as a sort of “boat still life”, does it? Edgar Payne illustrated the concept in his book Composition for Outdoor Painters.

The main line, or path which the eye follows, is fairly simple, too. It’s designed such that the eye enters at the bottom left, follows the arc of the tug’s reflection to the vertical pilings and then aided by the curve of the gunwale and angle of the clouds, it loops from pilings, to birds, to tug, back to pilings and eventually, up and out of the top of the picture.

main line

What about the four means of centralizing interest?

keep your most interesting shapes near the center of your design.
keep your greatest value contrast near the center of your design.
keep your most vital and saturated color harmonies near the center of your design.
keep your sharpest edges near the center of your design.

All of the most interesting shapes are on the tug. Of course that didn’t require any genius. Those were all handovers. I did, however, simplify all of the other shapes. Most of those were reduced to their basic geometry. A lot of stuff was edited out, too, like bow rails on the sailboat and numerous trees in the distance.

The greatest contrast is with the tug, too. The darkest darks and lightest lights are there. Now, you could say, “Wait a minute the light on that sailboat is pretty light. So is the light on that boat to the left.” That’s true but neither of those boats have any darks like the hull of the tug. So the greatest contrast is with the tug.

The most vital and saturated color harmonies are on and around the tug, too. It’s safe to say that the overall coloration is very neutral. The only colors that could be called saturated, and remotely so, are the green trim on the cabin and stack, the red orange of the life ring, the dark blue of the hull and the blue spot of sky above the tug. The overall color harmony of blues and greens with a touch of red orange (blue’s complement) is present on the tug and repeated in the neutral background material.

Lastly, all of the sharpest edges are with tug. Where hull meets water. Where hull meets the boat on the right. Where the cabin meets the sky.

These design elements along with its dominant size leave no doubt that the tugboat is the center of interest in this painting.

Time for a commercial: There are spaces available in April’s Cortona, Italy workshop. Don’t delay…

Posted by admin | Filed Under Art Instruction, Simone Says, The Plein Air Experience