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 Millions of colors and details sparkle in the sunlight, defining thousands of patterns of form and shadow. That's what we see when looking for a scene to paint, a least on a sunny day. How does anyone get all these details organized on a piece of canvass in an exciting and visually provocative way? Most of the time a composition doesn't jump up and yell, "Paint me"; I have to work at it. Good locations have hundreds of compositions waiting to be painted but paintings need a strong compositon and one clear center of interest. Imprinting in your mind's eye that one center of interest  and the overall light pattern is the first step in building a good painting.

For me, the discipline of developing a series of small compositional sketches is the EASIEST and most TIME-SAVING method to stack the odds in my favor. Usually I change location several times before I find the sweetspot in the scene.  I don't put in a lot of detail in these drawings but I have 3 objectives in this process. First, find the clear center of interest, second decide which arrangement of forms in front of you will make a great composition, and third by squinting at the subject determine the value pattern in the scene and assign those lights, midtones and darks to your sketch.  I did say assign.

Painting is not about reguitating just what's there. Its about the composition, value and color choices that the artist makes and the skill that he or she uses to translate that vision onto canvass. Its also about the elements in the scene that you see but make a choice to leave out or just suggest.  The sketch also references a single moment in time. As the light changes while the I'm painting the subject, it's very easy to lose focus of your original idea and constantly change the light and dark patterns on the canvass, which will always result in a weak painting.  Its easier to make desicions with a bunch a little drawings than scrape away half of the wet paint once its on the canvass.  And by the time that you've scraped away a large portion of work, you've lost focus on the element that sparked you interest in the first place. This is a lesson that I have learned the hard way.

The old barn	From six different views, these two are quite loose but give me enought information to block in the painting.	Abstract from the thumbnail

Once I've decided on the composition that I want to use, I clip the sketch to my easel. The sketch is my sole reference when I lay out the canvass and block in the large value areas.  The canvass at this point resembles more of an abstract composition than a realist painting.  Different value areas can intersect the same form; my objective at this stage is not to paint "things" but to create the structure that will hold the painting together.  Only after I've completed the broad value areas and gone through my visual checklist do I move on to step 2, painting the subject. Working from large to small shapes, I continually refer to the sketch to be sure that I'm not chasing the light in my work.

Old Barn 9 x 12 Oil on Linen Panel. It may need a tweak or two but its pretty close

I'm amazed at the number of folks that jump into a painting without taking the time to think through a visual plan. If you haven't done thumbnail sketches as part of the process, give them a try.  I think you will find that the few minutes invested in doing a series of thumbnails is the easiest way to start a painting and your efforts will be  rewarded with a stronger and much more interesting work.