edgar payne composition of outdoor painting pdf

If you don't have this wonderful little book in your library, you should. Beautiful works, and he certainly practiced what he preached. I've never seen any of Carlson's work in person, but I have seen some of Payne's. Over-modeling and accenting detail or highlights is an over-influence of realism. Many good pictures are ruined by constant striving to make them better. The less effort, the more pleasure and finer quality. While any amount of effort may be put into the preliminary notes, the actual work on the picture should go along without a hitch. Fine painting is a matter of proper taste and judgement in choosing the motive, accepting some parts, discarding others, and making changes or alterations throughout the procedure.

Good composition is always determined by good selection. This is much easier said than done.įreedom in expressing pictorially needs to respect nature and natural expression on the one end, and elementary prinicples and traditions on the other. All that can be done is to show him how he may develop his natural abilities. No one can give any new powers to the student. These greatly help with understanding the sections on color, and one wishes the publisher of Carlson's book would do the same. The publisher added color illustrations to the black-and-white ones not too long ago in a reprint. Still, at 170 pages and with a small, dense font, it is a rich vein to dig into. The book isn't much bigger than a 6”x9” plein air sketch. So, composition includes more than “composition.” Payne slips under this umbrella everything that goes into making a painting: color, perspective (both linear and aerial), mark-making and much more. Hence the study of composition is a matter of studying art and all of its factors and influences. Bringing these together, to form this composite, creates the process of composing. He writes in his introduction:Ī fine painting is a composite of all its factors and influences. You and I might define “composition” as the placement of shapes within a frame. If Carlson's Guide to Landscape Painting is the “bible” of plein air painting, I would consider Edgar Payne's Composition of Outdoor Paintingto be the “bible study supplement.”

Have underlined and highlighted lots, too.

Edgar payne composition of outdoor painting pdf