Learn to draw by Tissa Hewavitarane

Composition

What is composition? It is simply the means of arranging the parts of your picture so that they add charm to the whole picture. A badly composed picture will look bitty, disjointed and faintly irritating, but a well composed picture fits together in a satisfying way even though we may not be able to explain exactly why. While there is no foolproof way of composing a painting you will learn this through by experience.

First, you must provide a way into the picture, usually at the bottom, the eye is then led over the foreground to the main part of the painting, resting at the centre of interest and existing in the distance or out of the side.

The worst thing you can do to a picture, and I have seen it done so many times, is to put a wooden or even a barbed wire fence right across the front, as if the artist was deliberately trying to keep the viewer out rather than inviting him in. When painting the artist can and should edit and reject things that he does not want in his painting.

Secondly, division of space is important - the way a picture is organised. There are lot of ways of doing this with triangular, circular, radiating and rectangular divisions. They are much more exciting visually if they are asymmetrical. The old masters were brilliant at this and a lot can be learnt by analysing their work.

Third, always provide a centre of interest - the most important thing and what a picture is really all about. It is very important that this centre of interest should be placed correctly in the picture where everything can lead the eye to it.

Your own painting should try to do the same, which is to guide the viewer gradually to the centre of interest. You can emphasise this centre in all kinds of ways, with dramatic counter changes. It can be one spot where the colour is most intense or even the only place where the paper is left completely white.

A single boat in the sea can be very dramatic. Make sure you have a centre of interest in your picture. It is the point around which the whole painting revolves. Begin to look at good paintings with a fresh mind.

Finally, keep plenty of variety in your painting. Contrast softness and wetness with crisp sharp strokes. Vary your textures as much as possible, put plenty of depth in your work.