County Line - watercolor

watercolor, 2016

available, 11"x15"

prints also available

      This is from a shot taken during our one decent snowfall last year. It happily breaks one of the cardinal rules of composition -- actually, almost two. 1) There's a heavy line running up the center of the painting. 2) the horizon line also is in the center of the space. The second problem is easy; the actual horizon line is mitigated by the curved line of the tree line. The first problem is ignored because of the graphic nature of the image. Not all images conform to rules (and why should art have to?). Besides, everything else about this image follows other rules like leading and unity. There are five leading lines pulling the viewer into the painting. The line the tops of the trees make against the sky mirrors the tree line on the ground. There's also unity of color in that only four colors were used.
      So, breaking the rules is OK if you have a good reason and the image calls for it.