Landscape Sketching
A simple landscape sketch often includes the following components:
trees, shrubs, grounds, hills, water, and some man-made elements,
like houses. A good landscape sketch is a careful composition of
some or all of the above components. We seldom sketch a single
tree, a lonely hill, or a body of water without including its sur-
roundings. It is hard to imagine a hill without trees unless it is in
a desert environment. Therefore, we must train our eyes to see
these landscape components as a picture of good composition.
This means first selecting an appropriate viewing angle. When and
if nature fails to give us that kind of ideal setting, we must then
move the components around in order to achieve a good composi-
tion. I will discuss composition in detail in a later chapter. At this
time, the focus is to emphasize the accurate recording of the
images, and the first step begins with keen observation.