Welcome to

by Linda Carson

big black pig studio
98 King St. N., Waterloo Ontario Canada
www.bigblackpig.com

Composition

One of my favourite sayings about writing is "The typewriter doesn't go off by accident." Neither does the paintbrush. Painters make choices about paintings. The artist decides what to put in the lower left hand corner, how blurry to make it, and what colour it should be. The artist even chooses the shape of the painting.

No, I'm not going to give you rules about good composition. There are, I like to say, fewer rules than you think. I just want to give you some of the keywords you need when talking about composition.

• background, foreground & midground
• symmetry versus asymmetry;
• linear perspective;
• aerial or atmospheric perspective;
• push and pull;
• tondo;
• diptychs; and
• triptychs.

One of my favourite sayings about military strategy is "No plan survives contact with the enemy." An important part of painting is responding to the work in progress, at the expense of your plans, if necessary. A good painter leaves room for serendipity and works in layers.

Back to the main lesson?

Loosely translated, that means:
"Please don't copy this material or redistribute it in some other form, for any reason. This is my livelihood."