36 Watercolor artist | OCTOBER 2019
5 WAYS TO
STRENGTHEN
A COMPOSITION
CHARLES REID DEMONSTRATES PRACTICAL STEPS YOU CAN TAKE
TO ENSURE YOUR PAINTING BEGINS WITH A STRONG AND STRIKING DESIGN.Before you paint a scene, decide what interests you most. What fi rst caught your eye? What part of the
scene will be diffi cult to paint or will detract from the overall composition? Skip that part if possible, or fi nd
a way to de-emphasize it. If there’s an object you’d like to move, check the values and colors around it fi rst.
Avoid moving objects to areas where the background values would be too similar. Remember that
light-valued objects, in particular, need to be surrounded by darker values that will help defi ne their forms.Boats at the Center for Wooden Boats—Seattle