Before beginning a painting we often make changes big and small to the objects if it's a still life, to the position of the model or the boundaries of a cityscape or landscape. If you are working from a photo you can change the feeling of the scene by trimming the edges, or "Cropping". Here's an example;
This landscape has several features that I would not want to lose. I always like a clear value distribution; light, middle. dark, and a simple arrangement of just a few shapes; sky, cloud, pond, hill, marsh.
But There's just too much green in the bottom half. And, speaking of halves, that horizon runs right across the middle of the world. Cropping some of the bottom off might solve both problems.
While I was at it, I stretched it left to right. This is definitely an improvement.
For homework, I'll offer a few more images for cropping. Your job is to remember what you changed and paint a simple version of one of the transformed scenes.
Maggi and Anne Mariah, please set up the power point with the original images up first, followed by the painted versions.
Painters, do you think you can imagine adding or removing shapes?
This is fun!
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