Focus of study: Composition

In honor of the winter months the studio process will include a foundational shift from "sketch hunting" to "composition hunting". The end objective in mind is to focus less on the "subject matter" and look behind it to the arrangement of shapes on the picture plane and the creation of visual flow within a sketch or painting. A shift from the effort to create an engaging and recognizable sketch through object-driven drawing....drawing a person, a building, a tree, a plant, a bicycle, "Jo's coffee Shop", ...etc...to exploring the range and visual dynamics of the picture plane, regardless of the subject matter at hand.

The primary instructional resource is Ian Roberts' text: Mastering Composition: Techniques and Principles to Dramatically Improve Your Painting.


The primary exercise is the "composition a day"...it's not intended to be a regimented focus on creating at least one composition a day....but rather the intention that whenever engaged in the creative "hunt" that the focus embodies "a sketch journal adventure exploring and falling in love with the world one composition @ a time".