"Paintings With Personality"

I titled this painting Cacophony because of the racket the gulls were making as they fought over a scrap of food. I designed my rectangle using a combination of 3 photographs and painted at home in my studio.

Beginning and experienced painters often have trouble with proportions in their compositions. Learning to draw using sight-size or sighting can help in determining the lines, angles, curves and shapes in a subject.

         In sight-size painting the artist stands back from their subject and their canvas until the painting and the subject appear to be the same size. The method is seldom used today although it dates back to the 1400 -1500’s. Sight-size can be used in figurative, still life and landscape painting as long as the artist has the space to set up an easel and back away 10 or more feet. When using the sight-size method the artist must forget what they know about a subject and ‘see’ what is there instead of what they think or know is there. A well trained sight-size artist won’t need any tools to help in drawing; they have learned the proportions so well they no longer have to think about measuring.

When using the sight-size method the easel and the subject must look like they are next to each other and are viewed together from a distance far enough away that the artist can see both of them together. The artist stands back and looks at the subject and painting, the subject must appear to be the same size as the canvas. Then the artist walks up to the easel to draw or paint what he/she saw and again backs up to see the painting and subject in order to check for errors, this process is repeated until the painting is finished. The painter never looks at the subject from the canvas but only from the distance where the subject and painting look equal in size. In this way, the painter can compare the work with the subject at exactly the same size.

It is important for a painter not to become dependent on the sight size method. It is possible for an artist to lose their creativity and begin relying on the method, becoming unable to draw anything that isn’t exactly the way they see it. That artist has abandoned personal expression and become a copyist; the work is technical and more craft than a work of art, there is no composition, planning or design. Therefore, sight-size is good for learning to draw proportions and sizes of objects but should not be used on a continual basis.

I affectionately call this guy Ralph. I saw him at a Helena, Montana Art Walk and did a quick sketch then took a picture of him. He was standing there with people milling all around and looked like such a character. What I really liked were his hat and mustache.

Dependency can also be a problem with artists who copy photographs. The artist becomes so reliant on their photo they fail to move things around to create a work of art. It is a good idea when working from a photograph to get the drawing down on canvas or paper, make the design decisions then put the photo aside. Create the rest of the painting from your own personal experience.

Sighting is the way of measuring most used today. We hold a pencil, brush handle or any straight device within reach up in front of an eye, the other eye is closed. Keeping our arm straight and using our thumb as a marker, we measure a part on our subject and compare it to another part on our subject then apply the measurement to our painting. The element we compare our measurement to is always the same on both subject and painting. In other words, if you want to know the width and length of a nose, compare it to the width of the eye. The width of the mouth would also be compared to the eye; the distance from mouth to jaw would be compared to the eye, etc. For larger areas, like an arm or torso, compare everything to the width or length of the head. When painting other subjects choose one object to measure everything against just as we did with the figure.

Sight-size can be good when used with discrimination. It is certainly easier to compare proportions, size and similarities. As mentioned earlier, it’s a good way to learn but once it has been learned it is not a good way to work. Sighting is a more creative way of drawing or painting. You can draw as accurately as you want and you have the privilege of making any changes you want, you get to be your creative, imaginative self.

Let me hear from you. I want to hear about your method of painting and why it works for you.

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