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One of the best ways to encourage creative thinking is to define the situation or problem in a different way.  The word “composition” carries too much baggage.  Design elements, principles of design, types of composition – it’s all TMI or too much information.  Too many realist painters freeze at the thought of all this daunting advice, and default to the arrangement of objects, instead of paying attention to the stuff that counts. Rather than asking how this information fits together, we start worrying about the myriad things we can move around the canvas like a bunch of chess pieces.

Instead of placing all our reliance on objects, we should be paying more attention to the relationship of the basic visual elements – line, shape, value, and color. Instead of worrying about composition, let’s refer to the arrangement of visual elements as pattern. And no, I am not talking about repetitious design, predictable regularity, or how to sew a dress. Here is the definition of pattern that I am referring to: pattern is a discernible coherent system based on the interrelationship of component parts. Similarity, continuity, and connectedness are its defining features.  

How often have you heard the recommendation to use a value sketch for a painting? A value sketch can direct and inform your painting, forcing you to see the simplicity of light and dark values.  But more importantly, it emphasizes the relationships of the visual information and creates a basic pattern. 

Full disclosure: no, I do not use a value sketch. I do, however, try and visualize a value sketch, and I pretty much start blocking in my paintings by using a simplification of value pattern. As a personal preference, I am more interested in the complexity of visual information and how and why it all fits together.

The reason many artists use a value sketch is that the most obvious pattern in painting will usually be value  – light and dark. There is a reason for this. Light and shadow define our three-dimensional reality. Being able to discern the difference between light and dark is the most basic part of how we see.  The ability to perceive light and dark is also a simpler, and evolutionarily older, part of the visual system. As more information is added, such as color, the process becomes more complex and more abstract. 

We are also most sensitive to obvious visual changes than to gradual changes; and there is nothing more obvious than distinct changes in value. Is this lighter or darker? Think of this as an on-off switch. A light next to a dark will flip the switch on. A darker value, next to another darker value, will not. When the switch is on, we notice the difference. When the switch is off, we don’t pay as much attention to the information. 

Another important part of pattern recognition is the fact that our eyes move all the time. What determines where we look? We notice light-dark contrast first. We also notice any other areas of obviously different information, such as detail vs. lesser detail, or small shapes vs. large shapes. And, because we are human, we notice things with biological significance, like other people.  Pattern recognition is how we make sense of the world. We are always looking for how the pieces fit together. What is this? Where is it? Is there meaning here? 

This illustration (from the book Vision and Art by Margaret Livingstone) shows the traces of a viewer’s eye position while looking at I. Shiskin’s painting In the Forest, for ten minutes. The figure draws the most attention, but it also has the most detailed information in a smaller space, as compared to the repetition of the larger, vertical elements of the trees.

Since the painting, as a whole, is in the middle to darker value range, we focus on the lighter values and make connections between those lighter, more distinct, value changes. Light surrounded by dark, or dark surrounded by light – anything that is noticeably different – will grab our attention first. That is not to say we don’t notice the other information once we start looking. It is just not as noticeable.The largest mass of dark value in this painting is in the background. But the dark on the bottom of the man’s coat – the small dark shape, accented by the very light value of the white beard, holds our attention more than the background. 

This graphic is my rendition of what we are basically seeing when we look at Shiskin's painting. Notice how well the smaller light and dark shapes of the 'man' stand out against the other visual elements.

Pattern recognition is based on seeing the obvious differences, and then, looking for the similarities. Similarities don’t necessarily have to connect; as long as they have proximity, we will see them as being connected. Any visual information that shares characteristics such as shape, size, color, texture, value, or orientation will be seen as belonging together, and, in turn, form a pattern.  It’s also important to remember that not all information needs to be overtly noticeable, but all information does need to work together in an interesting way.

Using pattern recognition in your painting is about creating unity with variety.So the next time you are trying to observe and organize information, instead of worrying about composition, look for the patterns. Notice the differences. Find the similarities. 

Note: Not all paintings are value dependent. Some are more dependent on color. Careful observation and a basic understanding of warmer-cooler color will still create a pattern. For example, a warmer color next to a cooler color will flip the switch and be more noticeable than warm next to warm. 

For more information:

This post is based on a newsletter I sent. The newsletter has some additional information and a diagrammed Sorolla painting.

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