After the Rain

Here is an attempt to create a unified composition that captures the underlying order and beauty of its subject: In this case an evening view across water with cloud banks clearing out after a storm. Even though I paint in what would be considered a realistic style the overall pattern of interlocking shapes, colors, values that make up the design of the picture is just as important to me as the subject matter.

The scene of this picture is simple and stripped down to the bare essentials so that there is no particular object or detail to attract attention to itself. Its composition is made up of a series of horizontal and diagonal bands. The bands contrast between light and dark, creating a rhythm moving thru out the surface. The two darkest bands (the distant tree line and the shore in the bottom foreground) are both solid masses with little detail; they act as anchors, stabilizing the composition. The rest of the bands are made up of smaller swirling shapes (clouds, sunlight, reflections on the water); they are all movement. The contrast between this swirling movement and the stillness of the darker bands gives the whole design a dynamic vitality that at the same time has a mood of quiet calm.