Composition of Outdoor Painting
Author: Edgar Payne
When I started to learn to paint every professional artist I talked to recommended this book by Edgar Payne. They considered it The Authority on composition. It’s a rather dense read as Payne was not the best author. However, he knew his subject well and was a fantastic artist. Sometime back I had the privilege of seeing a few of Payne’s paintings up close and in person when they were on exhibit at the Booth Museum in Cartersville. They were so beautiful!
Every artist should have this book on their library bookshelf. No, wait, they should have this in their field bag and refer to it often. It may not be an easy read - but it is a rewarding deposit of lessons in composition. At the time of me writing this post, Edgar Payne’s Composition of Outdoor Painting (affiliate link) is in its seventh edition.
Artist and Author: Edgar Payne.
Image attribution: By Los Angeles Times - https://digital.library.ucla.edu/catalog/ark:/21198/zz0002pm5d, CC BY 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=121628715
“Learning the art of painting is not an easy task. It takes a great deal of intelligence, keen analysis, study and practice.”
