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Monday, May 27, 2013

Diptychs and Natural Dividers

A Walk in Springtime 12x24 oil/panel
On my recent hikes, I've been taking my camera and composing scenes with it.  My Canon Powershot SD780 IS can shoot wide-angle, 4000x2248 photos, which is a little wider than a 12x24 panel.  Since a 1:2 format is a natural for the landscape, this wide-angle framing helps me plot out ideas for compositions.

I know that this sounds obvious, but it wasn't until recently that I began to walk with just the camera and no painting gear, and with the specific goal in mind of composing paintings on the LCD screen.  Thinking hard about composition - and not about color - makes a difference.

One idea I'm playing with is the diptych.  With the camera, I try to find a natural divider to split the composition.  Most diptychs I've seen are two paintings in the same frame with a piece of moulding for a divider.  Or, they may be framed separately with wall space as a divider.  Eitiher way, in my mind, the two halves never read properly as a unit.  The wood moulding or the wall space seems to affect the aesthetics negatively.  (As a reminder, in a diptych, each of the two paintings should be well-composed, but they should also make a good composition together.)   I find that by keeping the diptych all on one panel and by using a natural divider - a fence post, a tree or some other prominent feature in the landscape - both halves are unified and my aesthetic demands, satisfied.

To show you how this works, at the top of the post is a piece I created based on a photo I took on a walk last week down by Cranberry Point.  Below are the two halves.



For those of you interested, I used an unusual (for me) palette:  Burnt Umber, Thio Violet, Phthalo Green, Cerulean Blue, and three new colors from Gamblin, Green Gold, Cadmium Chartreuse and Nickel Titanate Yellow.

This weekend, I will traveling down to Pemaquid Point to join about 30 members of Pastel Painters of Maine for a few days of painting.  I'll also be presenting a plein air pastel demonstration to the group on Saturday.  I believe I have Internet access at the hotel, so stay tuned!