THE ART OF THE FORGETTABLE FOREGROUND
‘Old Beach Path’ – 90 x 90 cm | Acrylic on canvas | Not much going on in this foreground and a nice shadow on the path to step over. After that there are things going on at the beach and then further still with distant sails and lastly some late afternoon clouds on the horizon. Still one of my favourites and I still have it!
The Art of the Forgettable Foreground (Blog by Mike Barr)
‘ This week the world has lost a Master in the passing of artist Richard Schmid. He wasn’t just one of the many great artists on the planet but he was one of the few true masters. He was extremely generous with his knowledge and untold numbers of artists of all abilities have been enriched by his knowledge and his person.
Among many things Richard had mastered was the Forgettable Foreground in his landscapes when he needed it and this is one thing that I personally have learned from him. At times he didn’t mind showing some raw canvas – somehow it was the height of understatement and at the same had some real drama.
The foreground is an important element in a landscape. Not only is it an introduction to the rest of the painting, it also provides depth. Having a foreground, middleground and background, completes the illusion of distance if painted well.
Foregrounds can trip us up though – easily!
If we are using a photograph as a reference or even working from life, the natural inclination is to give it equal billing as the rest of the painting. Unless the foreground itself is the focus, then it may be best to make it forgettable. It should mostly take a back seat even though being at the front it demands some attention!
A good foreground will lead our vision into the rest of the painting and often the best way is to understate it.
A busy foreground can also block the view and prevent our gaze from travelling further. It’s quite easy to fall foul of this. There are times when a close object is needed to lead the eye into the rest of the painting and being able to do this without blocking everything else takes some care.
A dark shadowed foreground can really help the depth of vision particularly if there is not much else to help with this illusion – a beach can come to life when we employ this.
It is gratifying to mentally step over a dark undefined foreground into the light of the rest of the painting. It’s a common but engaging technique.
Having a foreground play its proper role takes a bit of thought and at times, some boldness. It takes some gumption to ignore the taunts of a foreground when our attention should be elsewhere in the painting. The powers of an artist can be awesome when we learn to overcome this.
Happy Painting! ’