Fremont Hills from Quarry Lakes, 12"x12", oil on canvas panel.

This is a compositional study based on a plein air landscape done in a more usual landscape format.

The structure I began to explore here relies on dividing a square at two golden sections, once vertically and once horizontally. My study of this design idea is a part of my ongoing series of painting Shakespeare sonnets: it is used as the geometric counterpart of the classical structure of a sonnet.  

Here, the horizontal division separates the narrower top rectangle, filled with the village, and trees, and background hills, and the foreground "golden rectangle". The vertical division is supported by the edge between the light and dark parts of the right-hand background tree, and the vertical then continues, slightly interrupted and shifted, through the foreground bushes and their reflection in the lake. The focal yellow bush finds itself within the borders of a smaller vertical golden rectangle.      

This painting is available for this week only on the terms of "ten a penny" experiment; the suggested minimum for the piece is $40.00 (including shipping). Please click on the image to see a larger view and leave a comment or contact me through my website if you are interested.