[Peggy Baumgaertner]

An interesting thing happens when we view a scene, either through a view finder, in a photograph, or by holding up our fingers to box off a section of a setting. Some, like Albert Handell, write about intuitive composition. Ivan Kramskoi said that composition cannot be taught, at least until an artist has had the experience of forming his own compositions.

When you are looking at a scene, or at your photo references, often you are struck by one pose, expression, and layout that stands out. There is an interplay of light and shadow, value, rhythm and form that causes a quickening, an excitement. Something that makes you think "Yes, I want to paint that..."

All too often at this point, you start to fiddle about with the composition, eliminating some elements and adding others. Making the background darker, the hair lighter. All too often, you end up changing that which caught your eye and quickened your heart, making the painting less than it was before you began changing it.

I believe in intuitive composition. I believe in an artist's innate ability to see and be attracted to balance and rhythm. You don't have to be trained to see a cluster of shapes and say, "That looks interesting." Later on, with experience, an artist can begin to manipulate a composition, but initially, I think you must trust your eye, your instincts, your gut feeling, to identify a composition that works intuitively.

What this means, in the case of the little girl with the chair, is that there is something about the compositional elements of that photograph that attracted you. Was it just her face? Her pose? Or was the attraction in the entire piece as a whole?

As my friend Johanna would say, I quite like the chair. Compositionally, the broken pattern of the chair lightens and lifts the mass of the seated girl. The girl is grounded, lower in the foreground than the chair, and has a very interesting perspective. The base of the chair seat is the entry point into the painting. Her pointed foot in close enough to the body, and far away enough from the right border to keep you from leaving the painting. You don't need to artificially make a "triangle composition," the little girl is already a triangle.

I try to keep the composition as clean as possible. I ask myself , "Is there anything that could be added to make the painting better? Is there anything I could take away without it's being missed?"

More toys or a more complicated background would add nothing to the painting, but I would sorely miss that chair.

Peggy