Balance or steelyard compositions

Above is a painting I just dropped off at Rock Point Gallery in Northeast Harbor. Maine. I painted it last summer out on one of the islands in the Penobscot Bay.

I want to begin with a few news items. The first is that one of my post has been published on Fine Art Views, an online magazine ( I guess that's what it is ) They have about 9000 readers. It seems kind of strange to be read by so many, as I am usually writing for the several hundred readers of this blog. You can go to that link and if you like sign up to receive their frequent articles via e-mail. I may be writing more for them, I guess it will depend on whether their readers enjoy what I do.

The second news item is that I have the dates and more info on the workshop ion Jaffrey New Hampshire. It will run from September 19th a Saturday through September 221 a Monday. The price will be $300 dollars per student. I will post a link soon to a sign up form that will allow you to reserve your spot with a deposit using Pay-Pal. The hills of Southern New Hampshire will be beautiful at that time of year and we should have a great time. The class will be kept small enough that everyone will get individual instruction. I can help you paint better!

I have posted the image again so you won't have to scroll up to see what I am referring to. This painting is built on what is probably the most common design stem. The Balance or Steelyard. The group of trees on the left is counterbalanced by the long line of the distant shore to its right. If you imagine it a see-saw, the fulcrum, would be to the left of the center of the painting, like so...

If you imagine visual interest as having weight, the trees have more "weight" than the shore behind , so it takes a greater length of them as a counterbalance. Its just like a lighter child who must sit further from the fulcrum of a see-saw to balance a heavier child. The fulcrum is seldom in the middle because most of the time artists are deliberately balancing a heavier mass with a lighter one. That is an artistic balance of unequal parts. There are some symmetrical pictures, usually religious scenes that use an equal balancing scheme.

This triptych was painted by Giotto 1267- 1337 image courtesy of artrenewal.org. Even this piece is not totally symmetrical but the side panels both balance with the middle panel. Extremely symmetrical compositions give a feeling of stillness. That can be used to give a feeling of Holiness to a painting. But be very careful with that, unless you are doing altarpieces, that level of symmetry can be very oppressive in a painting that people will have to live with. It can give a real severe and primitive look.

Here is a beautiful Inness. The two sides of this painting balance one another. There is more weight on the right and it is balanced with a more interesting area on the left.

Well that should do for tonight. More tomorrow.