We’ve all been told a thousand times that there are no “rules” in composition, no real rules anyway, nothing absolutely imperative  that will have the painting police banging at your door if you infringe them. Well  that’s true as far as it goes but suppose I told you that it’s not quite the whole story… […]

In case you thought painting was easy. I have to tell you a cautionary tale of a painter who failed to take account of his own compositional guidelines and nearly came a cropper as a result. It turns out that its one thing to know what you should do, but another to actually do it!

I painted this picture recently which I have called Blossom (9″ x 12″ oil on board) and as it is a more complicated arrangement than most of the little studies I have been doing lately it made me think again about the subject of composition and how essential it is to making a good painting