Series 16: Selecting & Placing
S16 L3 Clearing Clutter- Download
Many times a subject that interest us contains unrelated stuff so that our first task is clearing clutter. Once we do that, using either rabatment or rule of thirds is a reliable way to place the subject within a balanced design.
[typography font=”Cantarell” size=”24″ size_format=”px”]In this lesson, S16L3 Clearing Clutter of the SELECTING & PLACING series, using as her subject Hereford cows in a pasture, Dianne demonstrates how to clear clutter then use rabatment for balancing the placement of the images while creating a readable visual path.
Once clutter is cleared, we can rely on either rabatment or rule of thirds for placing our images. In this exercise, rabatment was the ideal placement tool because of the shape of the space around the cows. On each long side of a rectangle there is an implied square, the height of the rectangle and extending that same measure along the longer side of the rectangle. The imagined line going through the rectangle to form that square is the rabatment. Naturally, every rectangle has two rabatments. Placement in this lesson puts the cows in the square and pasture space within the rectangle.
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[typography font=”Cantarell” size=”24″ size_format=”px”] Selecting and placing are our first acts of creating. Selecting comes first and begins when something captures our attention and calls to be made a subject of painting. Some call this inspiration. For others, it’s called noticing or paying attention.
Placing comes next when we begin to make decisions about how to align images for the most pleasing balance. This series addresses creative ways to make selections and place them.
Among Dianne’s passions about painting and teaching painting is how composing principles can expand creative freedom if the artist transcends the “rule” idea and instead, transforms the principle into a tool that opens creative doors. Selecting and placing according to rabatment and “rule” of thirds are among other portals towards this goal.
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[typography font=”Cantarell” size=”24″ size_format=”px”] You can find Dianne’s Quick Tip showing how to build a rabatment viewfinder is HERE. Read Dianne’s Empty Easel article HERE. An example of how Dianne has used rabatment is found in he painting, Light Games. [/typography]
