Backgrounds

Background. No, the "background" is not a separate and distinct part of the painting--it is the anchor and foundation for the painting. If your main "object" is the only shape painted then the object is foremost and floating, like a cut-out of construction paper glued onto another sheet of paper--no connection--no integration. why is this important? compostional integrity.

in any given composition whether it is still life or plein air or from sketches etc., the selected center of interest is the drama point, the aha. many emerging artists overlook the background as a prop or blank setting for the main shapes. No. the background is a part of the composition, a part of the focal point so that the primary object and message is connected to the surrounding context or supporting shapes. i remember starting with value sketches in my first book ( another story for tomorrow),  where the values were divided between and among the foreground, midground and background, things i learned from reading. after many years of painting i realized that this was insane, that the fore-mid- and backgrounds all worked together to connect the composition and connect it to the frame or "window" of the painting.

tomorrow, i will tell a funny story about how i went from a classic pen and ink guy to a watercolorist. wow. keep painting  RK