Choosing Scenes for Landscape Paintings
It is very helpful to have a viewfinder through which to look as you determine just how you want the placement of the scene ahead on your canvas. You must decide which object is your focal point and about how much of the canvas to allow to it and how much to the surrounding area.
One crude, but always available, method is to use your hands. Open your left hand so that the thumb and forefinger form a “C” and use your right forefinger to close the “square”. Now, you have a small area through which to look. By moving it around and closer and farther away, you can decide on the correct placement of the scene on your canvas.
Another, more exact, method is to take a sheet of paper, measure about 4 inches from a corner on both sides of the corner. At each of those points, draw a line about an inch long perpendicular to the edge of the paper. From the ends of those lines, draw lines parallel to the edges of the paper back toward the corner until the lines meet. When you cut out this piece, you should have an “L” shaped paper. Repeat.
Use the “L” shaped papers to form a square or rectangle, depending on the shape of your canvas. Use as mentioned previously to find just the right placement for your landscape paintings.