Composition, perspective and colour.
This refers to the selection and arrangement of the interrelating parts within a connected space. There are grand masters like Canaletto who give an excellent example of how it can work well. The further away the houses are in the distance the smaller they are and the canal itself narrows to almost a point. In addition to this, things in the distance change colour slightly thus making the distant houses slightly more hazy and lighter in colour.
Venice - A regatta on the Grand Canal.
By Giovanni Antonio Canal otherwise known as Canaletto.
The space in which one works, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.
It relates to all forms of arts, and it refers to the content of elements in the work that traditionally refers to the satisfactory relationships of arrangements of colour and light.
Perspective is Latin for ‘to see through”. This is something I hadn't even realised, and it makes sense.
Composition Theories
Mathematical, Creative and Scientific Methods. There is the general "Rule of thirds" - this is a general rule of thumb, Never place the subject matter in the centre of the picture.
Last year I was driving past a field on the Mendip hills with my daughter Martha. To the left of us was a sublime field of Oil seed rape, in full bloom. I could not by and not stop to photograph the scene.
This was where it is so obvious where the picture looked kind of average because of where the tree is placed in the picture (see below image)
And when the tree is placed to the right giving more of the yellow crop.
Mathematics has shown that Nature uses sequences, which are seen everywhere, from snail shells to the unfurling of a fern in spring.
The Golden Rectangle, - the logarithmic spiral equates to the Golden Section, shown below using The Great Wave Off Kanagawa, by Katsushika Hokusai.
Last year I looked into Cymatic shapes, which are images which are made by sound waves. Each sound produces a different shape, but all have a pattern.
The Chaos Theory by Laura Fishman illustrated nicely how a picture does not necessarily have to follow a given calculation, but it does its own thing to to speak. But despite this label of chaos, it still has a pleasing effect, possibly even because it has not followed the general rule.
The fern window bowl, (made by me in January 2025) is made up of thirds and so, to me, it's shape is following the general rule of thumb which suggests it arrangement is in balance. At least I think so!
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