sandr037

Although hard-and-fast rules are not the sure path to good composition, there are basic rules that should be remembered. The following are rules that will keep an illustration from becoming static and flat. Practice them until they become second nature­---then proceed to break them. One-point perspectives should never be allowed to become too symmetrical. Kick the vanishing point to one side so that you see more of one side wall and the horizontal lines are not parallel. Do the same thing with two-point perspectives, making them somewhat asymmetrical. Avoid one-point perspectives when making exterior renderings. Rotate a rectilinear building so that it is not being seen on a 45-degree angle. Adjust the position of a building so that it neither is too centered in general nor has a corner (or distinctive feature) that is too centered. Don’t crowd the subject building in a too-small frame or let it float untethered in a large frame. Keep an eye out for perspective distortion at the edges...

Albert Bierstadt (1830 – 1902) was an artist associated with the Hudson Valley School. He was a talented student of landscape painting who studied light and nature with a clear albeit romantic eye. He can be melodramatic (I myself have been accused of same), but there is much to admire about and learn from him. Bierstadt, like Constable, Leonardo da Vinci and others, studied the sky and clouds. His purest sky paintings involve views over a calm sea, as in his Sea and Sky, above. … or this Beach Scene . Add a ship to such an atmospheric study, and you have scale and a story that will sell… yes, he had to make a living… duh. I find this painting, Wreck of the Ancon , moving on many levels. Landscape, combines a sky study with mysterious mountains and a foreground frame to create the quintessential Bierstadt painting. Bierstadt helpfully reminds me that the sky is simply a rendering of light, which can take almost any color. Sunrise over Forest and Grove spreads the warm light over th...