Why Less is More

Why Less is More

Great paintings are often very simple paintings. Rembrandt used a very simple range of colours, Degas simplified the rules of composition by igoring them, Picasso simplifed the flat planes of the objects in his paintings so that even spheres became 'cubist'. The less they did, the better they got!

The whole idea of transferring a three dimensional lansdscape into a two dimensional picture is the biggest simplification of all. All artists do it, yet it is the most difficult simplification to make.

Remember that simplifying a picture is actually one of the hardest things to achieve - so here's some practical advice:

1) Reduce the number of colours in your pallete.

Currently I use just four colours: alizarin crimson, phthalo green, cadmium yellow pale and ultrmarine, plus titanium white. See "Mix (Almost) Every Colour with Only Four Pigments!"

2) Use bigger brushes

Use the biggest brushes that you can. Small brushes will tempt you to get hung up on detail but big brushes will keep you focused on the entire picture. If you have to use small brushes, keep them for the finishing touches.

3) Don't let real life spoil your painting

Think nothing of removing trees, houses, people or anything that gets in the way of the picture. Its the picture that must always take precedence, not fancy notions of remaining 'true to nature'! Make sure you stay true to your picture instead. In my picture of Roddlesworth Reservoir (opposite), I removed every sheep, several trees and re-positioned the entire reservoir.

4) Make a virtue of visible brushstrokes

This is just a personal preference, but I do like to see brushstrokes in paintings. I might sound obvious, but some artists still do all they can to hide their brushstrokes. Keep your brushstrokes as big and simple as possible.

Here's one of my recent paintings. I've tried to reduce every element to the barest essentials: sky, sea and sand. I removed several figures and a lot of foreground 'texture' to keep the picture simple.