Exercise: Identifying Simplified Shapes

I believe that painting can be as simple as seeing and recreating shapes, colors, and edges. This post talks about how to find and simplify the shapes we see around us.

Identifying shapes sounds easier than it is. The challenge is that the real world is filled with infinite detail. It quickly becomes impractical and conter-productive to paint everything one sees. To keep a painting interesting to the viewer and progressing for the artist, the painter must summarize what he or she sees into a finite number of shapes. This is true for colors and edges also, but I think simplification must start with shapes.

The best exercise I have found on the subject was suggested by Kevin MacPherson in his book, "Landscape Painting Inside & Out". The basic idea is to take a picture or photograph and cut it up into the shapes you would use to paint it. Cutting out the shapes forces you to simplify because small pieces of paper are hard to handle.

In Kevin's example, he uses the following image of boats on a river. He suggests that you squint at the picture to make it easier to identify the key shapes. Squinting blurs the details making them easier to ignore.



Then using a marker, outline the shapes you consider essential. In Kevin's example he selects the largest blocks of similar color and value. He even suggests that you pretend each shape you keep will cost you $100. That way you might be more selective about which shapes you really need.

When outlining a shape, you will often have to normalize the most complicated edges. That is, you must simplify complex edges by ignoring the unnecessary irregularities. The softer the edge the more difficult it can be to simplify. Most shapes can be simplified to the point where they can be drawn using simple curves and lines.

At this point, Kevin refers to the shapes as puzzles pieces probably because of what he suggests doing next. Now cut out the shapes using an art knife or scissors and spread them out like you would puzzles pieces.

To determine whether you have selected a workable set of shapes, mix colors that approximate the overall color of each shape. Then paint the shapes with that color over the original image. When the paint dries, reassemble the pieces to see if you are able to recognize the simplified version of the original image. If this works for you, then you have discovered your "artist’s eye".

If you want to see if you can really "paint" the simplified image, take the same colors and reproduce the shapes you cut-out on a canvas using a brush. Make sure that you paint the shapes in the same locations as you placed them in the puzzle, in proper relation to the other shapes. Soon you will begin to see the same realistic image appear on the canvas.