Intermediate Homework 5/20/15 : Shape first, then texture

George Post

Eliot O'Hara

Hardie Gramatky

Andrew Wyeth

 George Post

Eliot O'Hara

Leslie Frontz

Here are a few paintings that rely far more on shape than texture for both fundamental structure and narrative content. George Post liked to suggest texture with a refined pattern. Eliot O'Hara also kept detail to a minimum, using color and pattern to embellish large shapes. Hardie Gramatky and Leslie Frontz hint at complex surfaces, keeping them from distracting from the simple composition. Andrew Wyeth enjoyed creating plenty of texture sometimes, but his compositions are also strongly shape-dependent. In fact, in Wyeth's case, it is the boldness of the value pattern in relatively few shapes that provides a solid foundation for all the texture he displays.

Try copying one or two of these, with an eye toward where the artists saw the need for embellishment of shape, and how they provided it. Remember to copy the feel, or spirit of the painting rather than the letter of it.