Find the Focal Point First
featuring words from the late Ken Auster
At the end of the foundation part of the painting, you want to have filled up the painting with as much paint as possible by creating a quilt or jigsaw puzzle-like pattern. Fill in the elements without dealing with detail. There is a logical progression to all of the things on our canvas, in relation to our photograph or subject. We may have a warmer and cooler side of each painting. As each color goes back into the distance, it gets lighter and cooler, because as things get further away they are less intense. As things come forward, they get more intense. The problem that people have is that they immediately start to get into detail before they fill their canvas up. You cannot deal with detail until you understand how strong the focal point is going to be. The stronger the focal point, the more abstract it goes off into the distance.
The focal point is very important in relationship to the painting. It determines how much work needs to be done everywhere else. A problem that often exists when we look at a photo reference is that we want to create the entire photograph as is it exists. But, if you maintain the focal point idea, then you will be looking at the photograph in relationship to how you would look at it in terms of painting what you know and not what you see. When you go paint on location or in the field, it is easy to paint and move your eye to a different part of what you are looking at and paint that. But, what happens is you paint each part of what you are looking at equally and therefore you do not really tell the viewer which part of the painting is the most important.
““There is a logical progression to all of the things on our canvas, in relationship to our photograph or subject. ””
When the camera takes a picture, it develops the entire scene equally. It does not tell the viewer what part of the photograph is most important to us (the artist). It is our responsibility to develop the part of the painting to a level that shows what is important. As opposed to the other parts of the painting, which can maintain an abstraction or an indication of what you are trying to say rather than the focal point which says it clearly. In a painting, the focal point is the thing that hooks you. When you look at a scene, it is important that you realize you cannot see the entire scene all at one time in focus. There is always something that is going to catch your eye. The idea is to understand intellectually what you are looking at. It is not the whole scene that catches your eye, it is something specific (the focal point). When you find this “something”, you need to build your painting around it.
his excerpt came directly from Ken’s self- study course. Even since Ken’s passing in 2016, his teachings live on to inspire artists from all over. Ken designed his course to help you develop the necessary skills to produce better paintings and work more effectively at the easel. Click below to join Ken’s self- study today: