Painting With Constraint in Your Landscapes
Within a constraint, within limitation, is infinite freedom
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication - Leonardo Da Vinci
1 You want to paint the scene in front of you - but before you begin think of your composition - what you will put in, but more importantly what you will cut out. The composition should be balanced, with enough to hold the viewer's interest, but never too crowded and jarring.
2 Draw sketches of the scene before starting the painting to work out the best composition - what to keep and what to edit out, what viewpoint to use and where the focal point will be. The sketches will warn you if the composition is too complicated.
3 Constrain your use of colour. Too many different hues will not make an elegant painting. Have a limited palette and use light and dark of the same colour rather than add different colours.
4 Use stones, trees and other elements to give perspective, but eliminate unnecessary thing. Too much detail will ruin a painting.
5 Take a photo of the scene and look at it in black and white. This will show you the large and small elements, the darks and lights in there most simple forms. This will help in cutting the distractions and the noise.
The paintings below are good examples of constraint in art
