I took advantage of a beautiful day and spent a couple happy hours painting at the cranberry bog in Carlisle, MA. When painting on location, a viewfinder is critical in helping me figure out how to transfer the vista in front of me onto a small canvas. The viewfinder not only helps me "crop" the scene into a managable piece but also helps me figure out the correc
t proportions. For example, the sky and background trees take up just about the top half of the canvas. Using the viewfinder and noting these proportions, I sketch the basic outline of my composition onto the canva
s. This is actually one of the more difficult (but critical pieces) of starting a painting. I'll step back, look at my sketch, and make modifications until I'm happy. Once the sketch is complete, I can start the process of filling in each area, usuallly working from the background (top) to the foreground (bottom).
I took advantage of a beautiful day and spent a couple happy hours painting at the cranberry bog in Carlisle, MA. When painting on location, a viewfinder is critical in helping me figure out how to transfer the vista in front of me onto a small canvas. The viewfinder not only helps me "crop" the scene into a managable piece but also helps me figure out the correc
t proportions. For example, the sky and background trees take up just about the top half of the canvas. Using the viewfinder and noting these proportions, I sketch the basic outline of my composition onto the canvas. This is actually one of the more difficult (but critical pieces) of starting a painting. I'll step back, look at my sketch, and make modifications until I'm happy. Once the sketch is complete, I can start the process of filling in each area, usuallly working from the background (top) to the foreground (bottom).
3 comments:
Good reminder...
I've seen Greg LaRock and Kevin Macpherson and so many others use this tool as essential to composing their plein air work.
In his DVDs Kevin even makes little marks on the viewfinder as notes to himself before he begins sketching.al
Thanks for your comment Marian. I just saw a viewfinder with a clear plastic window that you can actually draw your scene and then transfer it to your canvas using a dry erase pen. I may try to recreate that tool as that could be a really nice shortcut.
Mill,
I love this one too. Don't artists use their thumbs anymore?
-KM
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