What does it take to create a strong painting or photograph?

by David Crandon

We have been fortunate to hear presentations from several inspiring artists this year.  They have shared techniques for improving the quality of our work, and ideas for new things we can try. 

Richard Scott’s talk was unlike any of the others we have heard.  He did not apply a single stoke of paint and, in fact, did not focus on any particular medium or technique. Instead he used paintings and photographs created by our members and guests, critiquing them as he would when acting as juror for an exhibition, to teach us fundamentals of composition.

Funny, articulate, a good story-teller, and always constructive, Richard engaged a sizable crowd in discussion about how to create a captivating image.  One message he repeated over and over was that an artist needs to determine what element of his or her creation is “the star.” There should only be one in a painting or photograph, and composition should focus attention on the star.

Richard showed us how easy it is to look at a representational image and identify the “thing” that is the star - be it a person, or a building with interesting architecture, for example.  Once we did so, Richard would flip the image 180 degrees, telling us that a good composition should look just as good upside down as it does right side up.  Looking at the flipped image we would suddenly discover that the thing we had identified as "the star" had suddenly disappeared into an abstract image.  At the same time, something else in the image would jump out at us in the abstract, upside down image.  Then he would flip the image right side up and, surprise, it looked much different.

That became the starting point for constructive suggestions on how to improve an image.  He showed us examples of how member paintings might be strengthened by changing color values and/or temperatures, by cutting back on details in elements that are not part of the star, and by cropping an image to ensure better focus on the star.

This was a fun and valuable meeting.  Richard is a really engaging artist.  If you have the chance to learn from him, please don’t miss the opportunity.