Day 11 Inspiration 6:

I don't remember being taught composition at school or college, yet somewhere along the line I learnt the "rule of thirds".

The rule tells us that the painting space is split into three equal parts both vertically and horizontally; the focal point of the image should rest at one of the four points where the lines cross.

The focal point is the core of the painting; it is the central character of the story.

Our composition leads the eye of the viewer through the "story", usually starting at the focal point as it catches the attention first!

We can do this through playing with scale, colour, tone, shape, line or texture as the eye moves from one area of the painting to another, revealing the story.

During this painting challenge, I'm finding that I'm anxious to dive in, conscious of the time constraint and neglecting the usual thought process concerning composition and story telling.

I'm going to concentrate on the storytelling part later in the challenge, but for painting six, I want to be inspired by composition.

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I turn to one of my favourite artists: Robert Rauschenberg, who uses....  well, anything and everything in his "combine" artworks (!), but I'm going to concentrate on his collages and printing pieces, where he uses colour direction, tone, photographs, lettering and shape to create composition.  Right up my street.

Check back tomorrow to see my Rauschenberg inspired composition.