Types of Compositions from "Composition of Outdoor Painting" by Edgar Payne

"A general list of the principal forms or stems of composition are described as:

- The Steelyard:

- The Balance Scale

- The Circle or O

- The S or Compound Curve

- The Pyramid or Triangle

- The Cross

- The Radiating Line

- The Ell or Rectangular

- The Suspended Steelyard

- The Three Spot

- The Group Mass

- The Diagonal Line 

- The Tunnel

- The Silhouette

- The Pattern

"This listing is at random and not necessarily by the importance of each type. In studying composition we should not consider one approach better than another but study and experiment with each and every one. At the same time it is well to improvise without considering any particular form of arrangement."

The Painting Process of Edgar Payne

"Canyon de Chelly" by Edgar Payne

In Evelyn Payne's addenda to "Compositions in Outdoor Painting," she lays out her father's painting process:

1. The first step in Edgar Payne's method was to select and arrange the elements of the scene he wished to use. When he had decided what the main subject was to be, he then tried out differing compositions. He did not draw many of these when working outdoors sketching, but went through the process mentally. In planning studio paintings he made many pencil sketches, often in the evening, trying out different compositions and planning the next day's painting.
   
   
2. In the field he sometimes used a little cardboard frame to view a part of the scene and to help select and visualize the composition. Either in the field or in the studio, the second step was to draw the scene on canvas with charcoal, sometimes very sketchily, sometimes in some detail, depending on the subject, with indications of darker areas.
   
   
3. The third step was to establish the pattern of darks and lights (values) by painting a wash or stain (often thin red ochre) over the dark or shadowed areas.
   
   
4. Fourth, working all over the canvas, he used thin paint to establish the color scheme.
   
   
5. Fifth, thicker pigment was applied to the dark areas in hues that would be appropriate for the shadowed places. Then applying heavier paint, he gave attention to the solidity of forms, 'modeling.' He worked to some extent from dark to light, as is traditional in oil painting, but also tended to work all over the canvas to maintain the relationships between dark and light, warm and cool, in accordance with the color scheme he had in mind, leaving only the highlights for the last.
   
   
   

Addenda to "Composition on Outdoor Painting" by Edgar Payne

"Breton Boats" by Edgar Payne

Edgar Payne's daughter, Evelyn, wrote an addenda to her father's book, "Composition on Outdoor Painting." Here are a few excerpts from it:

"My parents shared many basic attitudes towards art, although their styles were very different. My mother was a good teacher, articulate and well organized in terms of preparing lessons on the basic principle. My father found teaching difficult, and did not take students until the Great Depression. He taught by demonstration, and took students outdoors and made suggestions to them individually.

Both of my parents expressed exasperation with beginners who expected to go out on one or two sketching trips and come back with finished works of art. It was the process, the learning, even the struggle that was to them more important than the product. My father considered his color sketches made in the field as studies for his own use. He did not sign or sell them as a rule, although many are highly regarded today."

"A favorite story about my dad is the account of a time when he was out sketching, far from any sign of habitation. He was surprised to find a man behind him, watching. Then the man said, 'Why, that's nuthin' but puttin' on daubs!' A little later the man shook his head and said, 'But you sure gotta know where to put them daubs!' and walked away."

To be continued

Quotes on Composition from "Composition of Outdoor Painting" by Edgar Payne

"Blue Canyon" by Edgar Payne

"A fine painting is a composite of all its factors and influences.  Bringing these together, to form this composite, creates the process of composing. Hence the study of composition is a matter of studying art and all of its factors and influences."

 "Compositional stems in pictures serve the same purpose as armatures in sculpture... With iron pipe and wire, the sculptor builds his central supporting framework, indicating the proportions and direction of the main lines or angles of the plan. To this he adds the principal masses, and finally the smaller planes or more subtle modeling... As a matter of fact, in sculpture this stem is a concrete reality, while in painting merely its principle is observed."

"It is a very good practice for every student to make a collection of reproductions of paintings; hundreds can be accumulated. A large variety of compositional plans is a liberal education to anyone studying art. Seeing the pictorial ideas of others gives confidence and encouragement, and a respect for the profession of artist."

"The first and last thing to consider is the instinctive feeling for balance. The more this can be exercised, the more pleasing will be the harmony."

"Compositional stems should be considered as a means to an end rather than an objective in themselves. Therefore, they should be valued only for their place and limitations - then utilized with a happy anticipation of their worth and possibilities."

To be continued

More Quotes on Rhythm from "Composition of Outdoor Painting" by Edgar Payne

"Pack Train in the High Sierras" by Edgar Payne

"Rhythm being an attribute of music, is felt in the recurrence of similar sounds, contrasts and subtle nuances of near tones. Poetry, too, must have rhythm. In languages, also, this quality may be felt. For instance, Spanish has beautiful undulation and repetition - a continuity of certain near evenness, broken or interspersed with the contrasts of climaxes and anti-climaxes."

"Painting is like handwriting - the grace and swing in curves, ovals, and the general rhythm in the line of written words is possible only when the hand easily and confidently makes the strokes."

"The significance of line has much to do with rhythm in painting. Lengthy vertical and horizontal straight lines not opposed or interrupted are always more or less static. Curved lines contribute more to rhythmic feeling than any other type of line. Yet a curved line generally needs opposition by at least a few straight lines." 

"The recurrence of contrasts, accents, extreme values or color; the repetitions of closely-related values and color are also some of the visual factors in the picture which cause rhythmic feeling."

To be continued

 

Quotes on Rythym from "Composition of Outdoor Painting" by Edgar Payne

"Eucalyptus Grove" by Edgar Payne

"Rhythm comes mainly from a receptive state of mind, which is usually brought about by what is seen and felt. To feel the spirit of animate and inanimate nature - the rhythm of life and the universe... Sometimes a view will reveal a lazy stream winding through gently moving foliage, with distant meadows, shadowless hills, all perhaps enveloped in hazy atmosphere. Here is peace and quietude. The mood of nature becomes our mood."

"Nature has visual rhythm in form, line, color and movement."

"Rhythmic feeling when observing nature is caused by seeing both the moving and stationary parts. In creating the proper state of mind to feel rhythm, vision and appreciation must be employed... The semi-stationary quality of substance in foliage is balanced by the more rigid limbs and the strong foundation in the attachment of the trunk in the ground. This accents the grace and movement felt in the texture of loose foliage and small twigs as they respond to the varying strength of the breezes... The symmetry in the banks of streams and slow or swift-moving water gives an example of nature's rhythm."

"Whether the movement of clouds is seen or felt, there is always a certain rhythmic quality in them... Here is a fine example of the need for balancing of moving impermanent masses by the more stationary elements. Some of the more stationary ground parts are essential."

"Rhythm may be said to be the lubricating element in pictorial composition. A sort of easy co-ordination of time and circumstances is needed to relax the mind in order to sense nobility and visual quality in nature and relate this in the visual parts on the canvas... As the dancer uses rhythm to integrate time, space and movement, so too, does the painter utilize this element to integrate the factors in art."

To be continued

 

Quotes on Mountains and Clouds from "Composition of Outdoor Painting" by Edgar Payne

 

"Canyon de Chelly" by Edgar Payne

 

"High Sierra" by Edgar Payne

"If we decide to make a specialty of painting hill or mountain subjects, we should study their characteristic forms as the figure painter studies the human figure. Height is one of the strongest points in hills or mountains. They are also massive and suggest solidity and permanence. These characteristics should be brought out when composing such subjects."

"One other important thing to remember when composing hills and mountains is that form extends from their top crests towards the painter as well as to the right and left of their peaks. Picturing this foreshortening is not an easy matter. The ridges and canyons are generally irregular and their form deceptive. Their general appearance is often like an upright flat place. The artist must use considerable ingenuity to foreshorten form, arrange values and color to create recession in hill and mountain pictures."

"There used to be a rule that wherever clouds are used in the composition in considerable quantities, their shadows should be placed on some part of the picture, and there is no laudable reason why this rule cannot be applied today."

"By shadowing the ground, placing the horizon or land contours low and keeping the proportions unequal are the main postulates in cloud compositions." 

To be continued