{"id":351286,"date":"2025-12-19T12:09:03","date_gmt":"2025-12-19T12:09:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/entertainment\/art\/selection-and-composition-perspectives-from-the-artists-road\/"},"modified":"2025-12-19T12:09:03","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T12:09:03","slug":"selection-and-composition-perspectives-from-the-artists-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286","title":{"rendered":"Selection and Composition &#8211; Perspectives from The Artist&#8217;s Road"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"documentContentInner\">\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: xx-large; font-family: book antiqua, palatino; color: #800080;\">Selection and Composition<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Perspectives from The Artist&#8217;s Road<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theartistsroad.net\/custom\/perspectives\/1%20Selection%20and%20Composition.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Zoomed In Landscape Photo \u00a9 John Hulsey\" title=\"Zoomed In Landscape Photo \u00a9 John Hulsey\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" style=\"border: 1px solid black; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;\" \/><span style=\"font-size: small; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Zoomed-In<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theartistsroad.net\/custom\/perspectives\/2%20Selection%20and%20Composition.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Half Way Back Landscape Photo \u00a9 John Hulsey\" title=\"Half Way Back Landscape Photo \u00a9 John Hulsey\" width=\"500\" height=\"343\" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" \/><\/span><br \/><span style=\"font-size: small; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Mid-Ground<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.theartistsroad.net\/custom\/perspectives\/3%20Selection%20and%20Composition.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Zoomed Out Landscape Photo \u00a9 John Hulseuy\" title=\"Zoomed Out Landscape Photo \u00a9 John Hulsey\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" style=\"border: 1px solid black;\" \/><br \/><span style=\"font-size: small; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">Zoomed-Out<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">\u00a0 \u00a0<span style=\"font-size: x-large; font-family: book antiqua, palatino; color: #800080;\">W<\/span>henever we are studying a subject for painting, we give great consideration to the compositional design of scene, whether it is a still life, landscape, portrait and so on. There can be no rush to this process. If a painting is to be successful and meet or exceed our imaginings, then it must start with a thoughtful, well-considered design. We refer to this activity as <em>Imagineering<\/em>\u2014I think Walt Disney may have coined that term. Those students who try to skip this step usually wind up making big changes later on their wet canvas\u2014a mess to fix at that point!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">\u00a0 \u00a0Working from life is always the best way to learn to see. The process usually requires creating black and white thumbnail sketches with at least 3 values indicated. If working from life is not possible, one can also begin with photo reference images. In that case, we recommend that you always shoot your subject in three different compositions at minimum\u2014zoomed-in, like a portrait; half-way back, to stage a mid-ground subject with some surrounding environment; and, zoomed out to give a larger context, perhaps including the sky. These images illustrate the practice. From any of these, further cropping and edits can easily be made in drawn thumbnails. For instance, one might want to bring that green tractor over closer to the barn to add context and story to the barn. When we get back to our studios, we can use those field shots to create our hand-drawn thumbnails and select from those, not our photos. The fact is, if one draws a subject, it embeds in our memories\u2014our visual library\u2014and will be called upon while we paint.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">\u00a0 \u00a0It is also wise to edit our photo images at the time they are taken to restore the images to what you actually see, rather than accept the defaults of the standard algorithm the phone uses. That algorithm, designed by engineers, not necessarily artists, prioritizes human faces, which is not generally what we want for landscape or still life. Get to know your editing software. Edit images as you take them and compare the results. Edits are non-destructive, which means you can always restore the original exposure, or simply make a duplicate and edit that. All of this prep work helps us as we paint. When painting, we need to be focusing on mass-tones and color relationships, brushstrokes, edges, feeling, light and myriad other details then\u2014not on compositional problems!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;\">\u00a0 \u00a0Remember, in painting, if one wants to achieve a great finish, always begin with a great start.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>\n    \tCopyright Hulsey Trusty Designs, L.L.C. (except where noted). All rights reserved1.\n    <\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Selection and Composition Perspectives from The Artist&#8217;s Road \u00a0Zoomed-In Mid-Ground Zoomed-Out \u00a0 \u00a0Whenever we are studying a subject for painting, we give great consideration to the compositional design of scene, whether it is a still life, landscape, portrait and so on. There can be no rush to this process. If a painting is to be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":351287,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[100],"tags":[16881,7742,16898,16878,13658,2683,1242,7070],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-351286","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art","tag-art-instruction","tag-artists","tag-composition","tag-oil-painting","tag-perspectives","tag-road","tag-selection","tag-the-artist"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Selection and Composition - Perspectives from The Artist&#039;s Road - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Selection and Composition - Perspectives from The Artist&#039;s Road - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Selection and Composition Perspectives from The Artist&#8217;s Road \u00a0Zoomed-In Mid-Ground Zoomed-Out \u00a0 \u00a0Whenever we are studying a subject for painting, we give great consideration to the compositional design of scene, whether it is a still life, landscape, portrait and so on. There can be no rush to this process. If a painting is to be [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-19T12:09:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/120Selection20and20Composition.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"413\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\"},\"headline\":\"Selection and Composition &#8211; Perspectives from The Artist&#8217;s Road\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-19T12:09:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286\"},\"wordCount\":463,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/120Selection20and20Composition.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"art instruction\",\"Artists\",\"composition\",\"oil painting\",\"Perspectives\",\"Road\",\"Selection\",\"The Artist\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Art\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286\",\"name\":\"Selection and Composition - Perspectives from The Artist's Road - Som2ny Network\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/120Selection20and20Composition.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-19T12:09:03+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/120Selection20and20Composition.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/120Selection20and20Composition.jpg\",\"width\":550,\"height\":413},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Selection and Composition &#8211; Perspectives from The Artist&#8217;s Road\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"description\":\"Daily Deals\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Som2ny Network\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png\",\"width\":300,\"height\":86,\"caption\":\"Som2ny Network\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Selection and Composition - Perspectives from The Artist's Road - Som2ny Network","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Selection and Composition - Perspectives from The Artist's Road - Som2ny Network","og_description":"Selection and Composition Perspectives from The Artist&#8217;s Road \u00a0Zoomed-In Mid-Ground Zoomed-Out \u00a0 \u00a0Whenever we are studying a subject for painting, we give great consideration to the compositional design of scene, whether it is a still life, landscape, portrait and so on. There can be no rush to this process. If a painting is to be [&hellip;]","og_url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286","og_site_name":"Som2ny Network","article_published_time":"2025-12-19T12:09:03+00:00","og_image":[{"width":550,"height":413,"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/120Selection20and20Composition.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371"},"headline":"Selection and Composition &#8211; Perspectives from The Artist&#8217;s Road","datePublished":"2025-12-19T12:09:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286"},"wordCount":463,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/120Selection20and20Composition.jpg","keywords":["art instruction","Artists","composition","oil painting","Perspectives","Road","Selection","The Artist"],"articleSection":["Art"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286","name":"Selection and Composition - Perspectives from The Artist's Road - Som2ny Network","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/120Selection20and20Composition.jpg","datePublished":"2025-12-19T12:09:03+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/120Selection20and20Composition.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/120Selection20and20Composition.jpg","width":550,"height":413},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=351286#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?bp_activities=1"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Selection and Composition &#8211; Perspectives from The Artist&#8217;s Road"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","name":"Som2ny Network","description":"Daily Deals","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#organization","name":"Som2ny Network","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/4a0953c4-logo-300x86-1.png","width":300,"height":86,"caption":"Som2ny Network"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/b85e3c3dc0e1daea076524dc8810c371","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/729ae85bf62b9917e93538db2f2688ca?s=96&r=g&default=https%3A%2F%2Ffivemor.com%2Fwp-content%2Fplugins%2Fbuddypress-first-letter-avatar%2Fimages%2Fdefault%2F96%2Flatin_a.png","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/fivemor.com"],"url":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=351286"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/351286\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/351287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=351286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=351286"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=351286"},{"taxonomy":"dealstore","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fdealstore&post=351286"},{"taxonomy":"offerexpiration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fofferexpiration&post=351286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}