Composition: Rules and the Role of Personal Intuition

[@richardgiedd2062]

“Rules are to be considered as fences placed only where trespass is expected” Sir J. Reynolds. Thank you again for your time addressing this and for sharing your insights on this topic once again, and for further explaining the important roll played by “center of interest” in composition, and how best to work with it! It’s easy to go off track and get lost in the weeds. By “situation at hand” I do mean setting up a landscape or still life or portrait on a specific shape/size canvas and working it through to the best set-up. Your talk as usual leads the way to greater understanding of what it takes to produce better painting. Another great one…much appreciated.

[@rodmanjohnson9593]

One of your best videos! I understand Mr Gammell gave his students access to the symphony, ballet, and other performing arts with an eye perhaps to broadening their poetic source material. Rhythm in design/composition cannot be underestimated for value in the created visual environment. The impact of a great painting is felt, not merely "seen" . . . in the same way a poem creates a vision in our mind, and the mood to follow. More on this please . . .

[@PaulIngbretson]

I will be thinking about this!

[@niknaktabasco]

Absolutely love your "old hat" painting. Thankyou for sharing your paintings and knowledge.

[@gspurlock1118]

Thanks for another intriguing and valuable video. Well, poetry, that was my first artistic discovery. I'm still working on learning to paint as well as I write. My first artistic love is music, but I have no natural talent for it. So I worked my a$$ off and became rather proficient. My most natural talent was art, so I never worked at that until recently. I can send you some of my poetry if you like and you can determine whether or not I qualify as a poet. I apply the lessons learned from those disciplines to art after I finally succumbed to the simple truth that it is my greatest natural talent. In any creative endeavor, I have found only two things that result in a successful product: 1) The desire to share something of value and 2) The desire to explore and discover something I don't fully understand. Absent either desire, the work falls flat. The desire to explore can be as simple for a student is: "Can I do that?" One can explore the rules and principles, the subject matter or any other aspect. But, the passion to share or the passion to discover all by themselves can make a work successful and appealing to the viewer. I love to cook and to share well prepared dishes with others, that produced a very strong tactile relationship with cooking utensils. I did a series of a la prima still lives of pots, pans and carafes and they were gorgeous. They were things I understood from both a tactile perspective and from an emotional perspective. It worked. Same for poetry or music, something of value to share or an exploration into the unknown. In either case as you work, you are sharing a personal experience or journey. People like that. I don't know if this will work for everyone, but either objective is a pretty good way to ensure that your work will be personal. I think that is one of the things that viewers are looking for, to expand their lives. Beauty helps too. What do you have to communicate? What do you have to share? This underlies expertise and is not a substitute for expertise. Your desire to communicate and share will parallel your desire to master your craft to be effective. I hope this is a useful answer to your question of poets.