CROP THE LOT

‘The Bridge’

Crop The Lot (Blog by Mike Barr)

‘Ray Brill - an impressionist painter who I admire a lot, thought it would be a good idea to say a few words about cropping. In particular, focussing on small parts of what can be seen to make an interesting painting. It’s something that has been done by painters for a long time.

For those who paint outdoors it means doing away with the whole vista and concentrating on a smaller piece of what we see. As well as perhaps being more interesting, painting parts of a view opens up the possibility of doing a series of different aspects of the same subject.

The painting pictured is one I did a while ago of the Sydney Harbour bridge. This iconic structure is almost always painted as a whole – after all, it is most recognised when it is seen in its entirety. Getting up close to the bridge by walking across it or sailing underneath reveals new amazing aspects of it that are worthy of being sketched or painted.

Close-up views can also reveal characteristics not always appreciated from the long view. As for the bridge, it highlights it’s construction and the sheer immensity of it.

I have certainly found over the years that some of my paintings look best if they are cropped – almost as if I have wasted a lot of canvas in trying to give the subject some space. In fact I have physically cropped some painted canvasses and it has given them new life!

It all boils down to thinking before we paint.

As a plein air painter it is easy to be beguiled by the bigger picture and maybe miss out on some cropped gems. These days when I set up in a spot, I’ll do the big picture, then settle down for some close-ups.

These focussed works need not be those things that are actually close - they could be quite distant. Yes, it’s hard to see any detail, but that doesn’t matter because it will keep things broad and it will help us to painter looser – and many of us wish to do just that! Little viewfinders are available at the art shop to help us do this or you can cut one out of a piece of cardboard.

Learning how to mentally crop what we see is a valuable thing to nurture as a painter and it will open up new subject opportunities that we may not have thought about before.

It will make for interesting paintings not just for ourselves but for those looking at them too.

Happy Painting!’

- Mike Barr