Shape Your Compositions

Last Friday I taught a one day workshop titled "The Art of Shape: Interpreting Your Subject Using Shapes" and I want to thank everyone that attended the workshop. Learning to see your subject matter in terms of simple shapes can set your composition and get you started painting with confidence. This plein air painting was done in one of the older neighborhoods in Taos New Mexico where I often take my annual workshop to paint. It is a dirt road right behind an old mission with several old adobe homes and we always find lots to paint. If you squint you can see the composition is divided into just a few simple shapes. The dirt road, adobe wall, adobe building and coyote fence make up one shape and the trees make up a second shape. Once that was established I created smaller shapes within the trees and used lost and found edges to relate the trees to the building. Color temperature played an important part and I used warm and cool greens along with with pure blue and yellow. This painting was done on a 45 degree angle so that gravity would help move the wet paint and I was quite satisfied with the combination of hard and soft edges. The Taos workshop which takes place on May 18th through May 22nd is filling up so, if you are interested, shoot me an email. Happy Painting! Dennis Pendleton